In great news for people who use freedom of speech as justification for racial abuse, “people do have the right to be bigots,” according to Attorney-General George Brandis who told the Senate today that the government’s plans to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act brought to public attention when a series of Andrew Bolt articles arguing “fair-skinned” Aborigines used their ancestry as a political tool were found to have breached the code, will go ahead as planned.
The Attorney-General made the staggering remarks in response to a question regarding the nature of the amendments asked by indigenous Labor senator and Olympic gold medalist, Nova Peris.
“People do have a right to be bigots you know,” he replied. “In a free country people do have rights to say things that other people find offensive or insulting or bigoted.”
That infuriating Mobius strip that is the rhetoric surrounding freedom of speech vs political correctness is a tale as old as America, and one in which there are a multitude of complex and contrasting view points to consider.
The reasoning behind the government’s plans to amend the act – specifically, the part decreeing that it is unlawful to publicly “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people” – has been ably defended because “you cannot have a situation in a liberal democracy in which the expression of an opinion is rendered unlawful because somebody else … finds it offensive or insulting”, per Brandis, and ably scrutinised as “the watering down of legal protections against racism,” per Shadow Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus.
In response to Brandis’ comments, PM Tony Abbott said that the government remained committed to following through on their election promises.
“Of course this Government is determined to try to ensure that Australia remains a free and fair and tolerant society, where bigotry and racism has no place,” Mr Abbott said. “But we also want this country to be a nation where freedom of speech is enjoyed…And sometimes, Madam Speaker, free speech will be speech which upsets people, which offends people.”
Via SMH
