12^th February 2014
Rep­res­ent­at­ives of the Indi­gen­ous, Greek, Jewish, Chinese, Armenian and Korean com­munit­ies are con­tinu­ing their campaign to persuade Federal politi­cians against any repeal or watering down of Australia’s laws against racial vili­fic­a­tion.
In 2011, columnist Andrew Bolt was found by the Federal Court to have con­tra­vened 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.
Bolt had written a series of articles chal­len­ging the identity and bona fides of “light-skinned Abori­gines”. The Court found that the articles “contained errors of fact, dis­tor­tions of the truth and inflam­mat­ory and pro­voc­at­ive language”. Bolt did not appeal the decision.
The Federal gov­ern­ment has signalled its intention to review the RDA in light of the Bolt case but community groups have rallied to the RDA’s defence.
“We have now spoken to Federal MP’s in the Coalition, ALP, the Greens, Inde­pend­ents and the minor parties and have been receiving across the board expres­sions of support for our position”, a spokes­per­son for the group said.
“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 has nothing to do with limiting free speech. It 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.”
The spokes­per­son said that the breadth and depth of support for the current legis­la­tion among members of Par­lia­ment from across the political spectrum had “exceeded our most ambitious hopes”. “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 Act ought not to be changed unless there are truly com­pel­ling reasons. The outcome of the Bolt case falls a long way short in that regard”.
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 George Vellis, Co-ordinator, Aus­trali­an Hellenic Council
Mr Peter Wertheim, Executive Director, Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry
Mr Patrick Voon, President, Chinese Aus­trali­an Forum
Mr Tony Pang, Secretary, Chinese Aus­trali­an Services Society
Mr Vache Kahramani­an, Executive Director, Armenian National Committee of Australia
Mr Luke Song, Korean Society of Sydney

Senator Nick Xenophon (back to camera) and ECAJ rep­res­ent­at­ive Peter Wertheim discuss retaining section 18C with ethnic and indi­gen­ous community leaders, Canberra

L‑R: Vache Kahramani­an, Luke Song, Georg Vellis, Kirstie Parker, Patrick Voon, Senator Penny Wright (Greens), Les Malezer, Peter Wertheim, Tony Pang

L‑R: Penny Wong, Shane Neumann, Jason Clare, Bill SHorten and other ALP MPs meet ethnic and indi­gen­ous community leaders