18^th March 2014
JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT
Rep­res­ent­at­ives of the Indi­gen­ous, Greek, Jewish, Chinese, Arab, Armenian and Korean com­munit­ies have expressed their “vehement oppos­i­tion” to changes that have been mooted to sections of the Racial Dis­crim­in­a­tion Act which prohibit public conduct that is reas­on­ably likely to “offend, insult, humiliate or intim­id­ate” a person or groups because of their skin colour or national or ethnic origin.
The group of rep­res­ent­at­ives was reacting to a story which appeared in The Aus­trali­an on Tuesday spec­u­lat­ing that the Federal gov­ern­ment proposes to remove the words “offend, insult, humiliate” from section 18C, as well as removing the require­ment that a defendant must have acted “reas­on­ably and in good faith” in order to be covered by the free speech defences available under section 18D.
“These changes would mean that the Federal gov­ern­ment has decided to license the public humi­li­ation of people because of their race”, said Peter Wertheim, the Executive Director of the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry. “It would send a signal that people may spout racist abuse in public, no matter how unreas­on­ably and dis­hon­estly. It would be aston­ish­ing if an Aus­trali­an gov­ern­ment in the 21^st century was prepared to embrace such a morally repugnant position. It would be utterly indefens­ible. The sug­ges­tion that section 18D might be amended by deleting the threshold of reas­on­able­ness and good faith comes as an espe­cially unpleas­ant surprise to us”.
The group, which has been pursuing a vigorous campaign to dissuade Federal politi­cians against any repeal or watering down of Australia’s laws against racial vili­fic­a­tion, vowed to step up its activ­it­ies.
“The Racial Dis­crim­in­a­tion Act is one of Australia’s most iconic pieces of legis­la­tion. It goes to the heart of Australia’s identity as a nation that is both demo­crat­ic and cul­tur­ally diverse. The law ought not to be changed unless there are truly com­pel­ling reasons. The outcome of one con­ten­tious case falls a long way short in that regard”, Mr Wertheim said.
“Australia’s long term national interests in main­tain­ing a har­mo­ni­ous society and the respect of neigh­bour­ing countries are being sac­ri­ficed on the altar of political expedi­ency in order to score points in the so-called ‘culture wars’. It will leave a lasting stain on the legacy of the present gov­ern­ment if they proceed with this”, Mr Wertheim predicted.
“The existing sections 18C and 18D were enacted in1995 after three national inquiries in Australia found that there is a nexus between racially vilifying conduct in public and racially-motivated violence. The two sections strike a careful balance between freedom from racial vili­fic­a­tion and freedom of expres­sion”.
Endorsed by:
Ms Kirstie Parker, Co-chair, National Congress of Aus­trali­a’s First Peoples
Mr Les Malezer, Co-chair, National Congress of Aus­trali­a’s First Peoples
Mr Vache Kahramani­an, Executive Director, Armenian National Committee of Australia
Ms Randa Kattan, CEO, Arab Council Australia
Mr Tony Pang, Secretary, Chinese Aus­trali­an Services Society
Mr Luke Song, Korean Society of Sydney
Mr George Vellis, Co-ordinator, Aus­trali­an Hellenic Council
Mr Patrick Voon, President, Chinese Aus­trali­an Forum
Mr Peter Wertheim, Executive Director, Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry