MEDIA RELEASE – 10th Nov
PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY INTO FREEDOM OF SPEECH
We note that the Federal government has announced a “Parliamentary Inquiry into
Freedom of Speech” in the context of the Racial Discrimination Act.
This announcement follows the public debate that has been generated by the case of
Prior v Queensland University of Technology & others (the QUT case) and the
complaint recently made under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA)
against political cartoonist Bill Leak.
We do not believe that any case has been made to alter sections 18C and 18D of the
RDA. We believe sections 18C and 18D of the RDA strike a careful balance between
freedom of expression and freedom from racial vilification. Indeed, the actual result in
the QUT case entirely vindicates the correctness of that balance. The decision
expressly confirmed that section 18C does not extend to “trivial slights” but requires
“profound and serious effects”.
Sections 18C and 18D of the RDA have been key components in the array of
legislative and educative tools used by each of our communities in our efforts to
counter-act racism. We are deeply concerned that a change to the substantive terms
of sections 18C or 18D of the RDA would weaken those efforts and send a signal
that a degree of racism in public discourse is now to be considered acceptable.
The cultural diversity of Australia’s people is a great source of our nation’s strength
and pride. It also imposes an obligation on government to protect and encourage
social cohesion. Failure to do so can have serious if not catastrophic consequences
for our society.
Freedom of speech is fundamental to our liberal democratic society but it is not, and
has never been, an absolute freedom. Freedom does not mean licensing individuals
to do just as they please, because that would ultimately result in the destruction of
freedom.
We recognise the legitimate concerns about the complaints handling process that
have given rise to some aspects of the current debate. Those concerns focus
especially on the incidence and consequences for respondents of unmeritorious
complaints.
Whilst there is no evidence whatsoever that the percentage of unmeritorious claims
made under section 18C of the RDA is higher than under any other statutory regime
for relief, such as the law of defamation, copyright, consumer protection and trade
practices, we nevertheless welcome any constructive and appropriate proposal to
improve the complaints-handling process and to identify and filter out unmeritorious
complaints at an early stage.
In particular we welcome the ideas put forward by Julian Leeser MP, the Member for
Berowra, in his address to the Chinese Australian Services Society on 4 November
2016, proposing that the Australian Human Rights Commission Act be amended so
as to minimise the likelihood of unmeritorious claims proceeding to court.
We believe these proposals offer a sensible way forward to address the issues that
have been highlighted by the QUT case and the complaint against Bill Leak.
Authorised by:
Vache H. Kahramanian, Managing Director, Armenian National Committee of
Australia.
George Vellis, Coordinator, Australian Hellenic Council
Robert Goot AM SC, President, and Peter Wertheim AM, Executive Director,
Executive Council of Australian Jewry
-Chairs, National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples
Randa Kattan, Chief Executive Officer, Arab Council Australia
Samier Dandan, President, Lebanese Muslim Association
Mr Bon Nguyen, President of the Vietnamese Community in Australia
Kenrick Cheah, President, Chinese Australian Forum