18C: Malcolm Turnbull announces inquiry into Racial Discrimination Act
Updated
The Federal Government has set up a parliamentary inquiry into the Racial Discrimination Act to determine whether it imposes unreasonable limits on free speech and to recommend whether the law should be changed.
Key points:
- Government announces inquiry into Racial Discrimination Act and HRC's complaints handling
- PM promises "calm" and "reasoned" discussion, says he is not interested in "gesture politics"
- Professor Triggs says removing words "insult" and "offend" from Section 18C could strengthen Act
The inquiry, to be undertaken by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, will also examine the way the Human Rights Commission deals with complaints under the Act, particularly ones that may be considered vexatious, trivial or have no prospect of success.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the Coalition partyroom the aim of the inquiry was to build consensus for any change, not to engage in heroic acts which would only lead to defeat.
The majority of Coalition MPs want the words "insult" and "offend" removed from Section 18C of the Act — while maintaining the stronger protections against hate speech — arguing the laws as they stand impede free speech.
Mr Turnbull had initially said the Government had no plans to change the laws, but appeared to have softened his position in the wake of the legal action targeting three Queensland University of Technology (QUT) students and News Corp cartoonist Bill Leak.
Eighteen Coalition MPs spoke on the issue during today's partyroom meeting. Some argued the problem lies with the way the Human Rights Commission handles complaints under the Act, while others believed the law itself needs to be changed.
ABC News understands there was broad agreement an inquiry was the right way to go, with MPs acknowledging the issue was not going away.
The issue dominated much of Question Time with the Federal Opposition criticising Mr Turnbull's apparent change in position and asking what sort of insults he thinks people should be able to use.
Mr Turnbull returned fire by accusing the Opposition of misleading and insulting the intelligence of the Australian people.
"We'll have a calm, we'll have a reasoned discussion and we'll see what consensus emerges," he said.
"I'm not interested in gesture politics. I'm not interested in misrepresenting the facts."
The inquiry will be chaired by Liberal MP Ian Goodenough, who has drawn upon his experience as a Singaporean migrant growing up in Australia to argue for "common sense" changes.
Mr Goodenough said as a child, he tried his best to fit in and assimilate with the Australian way of life but still experienced his "fair share of teasing and name-calling".
"But I learnt to be resilient and take it in my stride," he said.
"Insults and offensive comments are occasionally encountered as a part of everyday life and we must learn to deal with them.
"Resorting to legal action for petty matters should not be our default position."
Mr Goodenough said he will meet the Attorney-General later today to draw up the inquiry's terms of reference and will then work with the Committee to determine the time frame and public hearing schedule.
Triggs supports proposed changes
The announcement came as Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs threw her support behind proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act.
Asked whether she supported the amendment proposed by Coalition MPs to replace the words "insult" and "offend" with "vilify" in Section 18C, Professor Triggs said she would see that as a "strengthening".
"It could be a very useful thing to do," she said.
"There's always ambiguity about what you mean by offending and insulting.
"We believe the provisions underpin a balance of freedom of speech on the one hand … but we also stand by the fact that no civilised society should allow abusive statements made in the public arena because of a person's race."
Triggs, Turnbull in stoush over QUT students' case
A stoush broke out between Professor Triggs and Mr Turnbull yesterday, after he attacked the Commission over its involvement in the controversial racial hatred case against the QUT students.
Mr Turnbull said the Commission had wasted taxpayers' time and money, and had done a great deal of harm to its credibility, by "bringing" the case.
But the Commission later clarified it had "terminated" the QUT complaint in 2015 and had nothing to do with the subsequent court action.
Describing Mr Turnbull's comments as "deeply misleading", Profressor Triggs noted she was bound to investigate and conciliate every written complaint the Commission receives and has again called on the Government to raise that threshold.
"We would welcome an attempt to moderate the Statute that would make it a little easier for the Commission to say 'these matters are coming to us and we don't think that they've got any real legs at all'," she said.
"We've long argued for this."
Topics: laws, rights, law-crime-and-justice, race-relations, government-and-politics, federal-government, federal-parliament, australia
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