THE HON TONY BURKE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CITIZENSHIP AND MULTICULTURAL AUSTRALIA
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MEMBER FOR WATSON
THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
STRENGTHENING 18C: NO ONE IS FOOLED.
The Government is falsely claiming that it is strengthening the law by removing insult, offend and humiliate from section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
George Brandis again referred to a strengthening of 18C when questioned in the Senate yesterday.
At the same time the Government is claiming that these changes will allow more freedom of speech, they are also claiming that more racial hate speech will not be allowed.
Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia Tony Burke said, If the Government is claiming this is about freedom of speech, it must mean people would be allowed to say more.
Its a sneaky attempt to deceive Australians, and no one is falling for it.
If the Government was truly trying to strengthen the Act, Aboriginal Legal Services would not have been barred from the Senate inquiry into the proposed changes to the law.
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said: The exclusion of the Aboriginal Legal Service from Fridays hearing into the proposed changes to section 18C was despicable. It ensured not a single Indigenous voice has been heard on the matter of the new law.
It speaks volumes about this governments attitude to the communities affected by a watering down of protections against racial hate speech, and exposes them as utter hypocrites on the subject of free speech.
The proposal to weaken section 18C has been rejected by Australia's multicultural community.
The Liberal Party's obsession with this shows you how out of touch they are. They aren't creating jobs but they are giving people the right to be a bigot.
Labor will fight the Turnbull Governments attempts to weaken protections against racist hate speech.
TUESDAY, 28 MARCH 2017
