Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to speak in support of the member for Gellibrand's motion.

From the start, I think people might be wondering, 'Why is this significant? Why is this parliament noting the 40th anniversary of a piece of legislation?' I think that part of the answer to that comes from the event that was held, mentioned by the member for Reid, on 11 June in Sydney, where we gathered together for the launch of Tim Soutphommasane's book, I'm not Racist But …and also to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the act. In attendance were the Race Discrimination Commissioner, the shadow Attorney-General, Senator Penny Wong, the member for Reid, a number of other distinguished guests and me. Each speaker gave a most insightful perspective on why this act is so important.

One area that I think is not recognised as much as it should be is that if it were not for the Racial Discrimination Act we would not have had native title. There would be no Mabo without the Racial Discrimination Act. It was also great to see Gillian Triggs, the President of the Human Rights Commission there and Tim Wilson, the Human Rights Commissioner. All members reflected in very unique ways on the importance of this legislation.

Of course, the act does have a long 40-year history. It was passed in the final months of the Whitlam government in 1975 and really drew upon the pioneering work of attorneys-general, Lionel Murphy and Kep Enderby. For the first time in Australian history this legislation made it unlawful to discriminate against a person based on their race in a whole range of areas, including employment, housing and the provision of goods and services.

This act established the principle that is fundamental in our law to modern Australia, enforcing a powerful message about the kind of Australia we want—a thriving, accepting and respectful multicultural society, one that is inclusive irrespective of where you were born or where your parents may have been born. But I think it is also worth reflecting on the fact that these principles had to be fought for to be enshrined in legislation, and even after the passage of the act it was contested. In 1982 the Bjelke-Petersen government in Queensland challenged its validity in the High Court in the Koowarta case. And, as I said, it set the stage for the subsequent Mabo decision and native title. It also led the way for other, broader human rights work. Over the next couple of decades the Sex Discrimination Act, the Disability Act and the Age Discrimination Act followed.

So, be in no doubt about the significance of this act and why it is so important to acknowledge it and to fight for it into the future. Forty years since the Whitlam government proudly proclaimed that the Racial Discrimination Act would 'show a clean face to the world in terms of racial matters,' I believe that few pieces of legislation have encapsulated our modern Australian identity as distinctly or profoundly. Going to the words of Attorney-General Kep Enderby at the time, in 1975, he said that this bill:

… will make people more aware of the evils, the hurtful consequences of discrimination and make them more obvious and conspicuous. In this regard the Bill will perform an important educative role.

We know even today how much racial vilification damages the notion of society. It not only goes towards being against those fundamental tenets that I discussed; it also prohibits people from participating in our economy as much as they could.

You only have to look at the public outcry over this government's proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, specifically in respect of 18C and the prohibitions against racist hate speech, to see how much the public recognises and respects these provisions. I acknowledge the words of the member for Gellibrand on this point, and I will add to them. I am yet to hear from the proponents of repealing these protections against racist hate speech. I am yet to have them articulate precisely what it is that they want to say that they cannot say now. I think it would be extremely telling if they could articulate exactly what that is. I was not surprised that a wide variety of groups came together to oppose these changes, including those on the government's own side.

As we rightly come together as a parliament to celebrate this legislation, we need to remember that its progress was hard fought, and we need to ensure that all our equal opportunity laws and institutions are not merely symbols to acknowledge from afar or to tick off from a list. I will end by saying that I remain tremendously optimistic for our society every time I see my three-year-old with her friends. Children do not see race. I look forward to a day when in our society, in this parliament and in our broader community we do not see it either.

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