More harm than harmony

Yesterday, graphic details of child abuse emerged from the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. Snapchat videos showed Conan Zamolo, a former youth justice officer at the Don Dale Detention Centre, asking vulnerable Aboriginal children for oral sex, goading them into eating faeces and barging in on them while urinating.

The royal commission was called by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the wake of the ABC’s Four Corners exposé last year and has been hearing troubling details of the abuse perpetrated against Aboriginal kids since. Despite the original images of torture causing a national outcry, the latest outrages are a one-day story.

Instead, today, on the International Day of Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the media and the federal government have chosen to resurrect an old debate about the rights of bigots under the guise of “freedom of speech”.

Although it has been reported that some MPs from more ethnically diverse electorates “revolted” in the party room this morning, the draft bill to amend section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act to replace the words “offend, insult and humiliate” with “harass” was endorsed by the Liberal Party. The Australian reports that Tony Abbott “rose in the party room to congratulate” the prime minister. It seems the rights of racists can unite even the most adamant enemies in the political world.

In a press conference with Attorney-General George Brandis, Turnbull claimed that the changes to 18C were about “replacing language which has lost credibility”. He claimed the laws would be amended to “ensure the human rights commission will offer procedural fairness” and cited the QUT case and Bill Leak. Both cases involved the rights of white people to make, or paint, racist commentary about Aboriginal people.

Turnbull insinuates those who are on the receiving end of discrimination are responding to “mere slights”. But while Aboriginal children are abused in Don Dale and other juvenile detention centres across the nation, the government wants to pass amendments to appease the “mere slights” of privileged white men who primarily write for the Australian.

While the Coalition claims it has struck the “right balance”, this has come at the expense of already precarious protections for minorities. This also again reiterates the view that the Liberal Party is more than willing to kowtow to bigots rather than support the rights of the most vulnerable.

And the irony of watering down section 18C while parliament paints itself orange for “Harmony Day” has not been lost for many on social media and off it. Senator Patrick Dodson and Labor MP Linda Burney said those who thought racial discrimination is not an issue needed to “stand in the shoes” of Aboriginal people and migrants.

But while many have hinted at the irony of having this debate on “Harmony Day”, Junkee’s Osmond Chiu suggests it may actually be keeping with the spirit of the day. He points out that “Harmony Day” was a Howard government initiative to depoliticise the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

He writes “as long as we continue to call it Harmony Day, we are legitimising this widespread denial about racism in Australia”. And if the debate about 18C is anything to go by, this denial will not change anytime soon.

Today’s links

• 2016 was the hottest year on record, and it is continuing into 2017, pushing us into “truly unchartered territory”, the World Meteorological Organisation has warned.
• FBI Director James Comey announces the agency is investigating allegations that Russia tampered with the US election and dismisses the US president’s accusations of wire-tapping.
• British prime minister Theresa May sets a date for Brexit.
• Crikey reports on the continuing fallout within One Nation over their preference deal at the WA election.
• Former prime minister Julia Gillard replaces former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett as chair of Beyond Blue.
• The brilliant Maori director Taika Waititi talks about his success and shaking up Hollywood in this Guardian profile by Elle Hunt.