Leaders meeting Brandis over 18C

ATTORNEY-GENERAL George Brandis was set to meet yesterday (Wednesday) with a delegation representing various Australian ethnic communities to discuss their concerns about his plan to soften Australia’s racial vilification laws.

The leaders, among them Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) executive director Peter Wertheim, last met Brandis on December 9 in regard to the Government’s intention to amend the laws, which include a planned repeal of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

The Coalition wants to amend the laws in the name of freer speech.

Wertheim said yesterday’s meeting, attended by representatives of the Indigenous, Greek, Chinese, Jewish, Korean and Greek Cypriot communities, was at Brandis’s initiation.

“When we met with the Attorney-General last month he invited us to come back to him with some ideas for improving the law,” he said prior to the meeting.

“We have now agreed on certain proposals to put to him which we believe will both strengthen the law and allay concerns that the law unreasonably restricts freedom of expression.

“We are keen to take up the Attorney-General on his offer to consult further with us before any draft legislation is put before Parliament”.

Section 18C of the Act makes it unlawful for a person to carry out an act on the basis of “race, colour or national or ethnic origin” of another person where the act is likely “to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate”.

It was successfully used to prosecute Holocaust denier Fredrick Toben in 2009.

Early last month, the leaderships of a wide range of ethnic and religious communities signed a statement calling for Brandis to drop the proposed amendments to the Act.

Representatives resolved last week to continue their campaign against any attempts to repeal or weaken the section of the Racial Discrimination Act which prohibits racial vilification.

The AJN will report on the outcome of the meeting, which did not conclude prior to press, next week.

GARETH NARUNSKY

Get The AJN Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up