17^th March 2014
JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT
Coalition MPs, Craig Laundy, the Federal Member for Reid, and Ken Wyatt, the Federal Member for Hasluck, have come out publicly to oppose any changes to sections of the Racial Dis­crim­in­a­tion Act (RDA) 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.
Mr Laundy reportedly told “The Con­ver­sa­tion” that he would like the law “to stay exactly as it is”. Mr Wyatt was reported to have said that ”Australia has come a long way in the last 30 or 40 years and what I wouldn’t like to see is a regres­sion that allows those who have bigoted view­points to vilify any group of people at all”.
The two MPs’ stance has won praise from a group of rep­res­ent­at­ives of the Indi­gen­ous, Greek, Jewish, Chinese, Arab, Armenian and Korean com­munit­ies, who have been pursuing a vigorous campaign to persuade Federal politi­cians against any repeal or watering down of Australia’s laws against racial vili­fic­a­tion.
“Craig Laundy and Ken Wyatt have had the courage to say publicly what a number of his Coalition col­leagues, some of them very senior, have been saying to us privately”, said ECAJ Executive Director, Peter Wertheim.
“Once people under­stand that the existing law only applies to serious cases and requires an objective test to be satisfied based on community standards, rather than a subject test based on hurt feelings, it becomes clear that the current law is about enabling targeted groups to defend them­selves against racial vili­fic­a­tion and has nothing to do with limiting free speech.”
“The law does not stop anybody from offending or insulting others because of their opinions or beliefs. People can change their opinions or beliefs. But the current law does prohibit publicly offending and insulting others because of their race, which is something people cannot change. Offending and insulting other people because of their race is not about per­sua­sion. It’s about attacking their human dignity”’, Wertheim said.
It is expected that the gov­ern­ment will table draft legis­la­tion before the Par­lia­ment within the next fortnight. “The more extensive the proposed changes are, the stiffer the oppos­i­tion to it will be”, Wertheim predicted.
“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”, Wertheim concluded.
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