Brief outline from the HREOC report:
This inquiry arises out of a complaint made on 31 May 1996 to the Race Discrimination Commissioner (“the Commissioner”) of the Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission (“the Commission”) by Jeremy Jones, the Executive Vice President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (“ECAJ”), against the Adelaide Institute. The complaint alleged the Adelaide Institute had published material on its World Wide Website “which constitutes malicious anti-Jewish propaganda”. The complaint alleged the material published on the website was contrary to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (“the Act”). The Commissioner enquired into this complaint but considered it was not amenable to conciliation and referred it to a public inquiry pursuant to section 24E(1)(a) of the Act on 10 April 1997. The reference was accompanied by a report from the Commissioner which included the downloaded contents of the website as at 31 May 1996. The matter did proceed to a public hearing which was conducted by me in Sydney on 2 November 1998 pursuant to section 25A of the Act. However, the process of the conduct of the inquiry of this matter was protracted and complex, and in some respects relevant to the substantive consideration of this complaint. Accordingly, I shall set out in some detail the processes of this inquiry as well as its substance.
