Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hear members opposite interjecting, and I would ask them: do you want to see cartoonists shut down? You may want to shut debate down in this country. I say it is a disgrace and it is an outrage that a cartoonist in this country can be pursued by a government entity. I say that is a disgrace. Today we have the Australian Human Rights Commission operating something you would expect in a George Orwell novel. The most important human right that we can have is the right of free speech. Yet we have an organisation, under the banner of human rights, going after the cartoonists of this nation. I put to you, Deputy Speaker, that there could be a way of moving ahead.

I know that the opposition have locked themselves into a position that they cannot amend 18C. As much as we could debate it, we know that if we tried to in this House it would be blocked in the Senate. I would like to offer another solution. Section 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act says:

Section 18C does not render unlawful anything said or done reasonably and in good faith …

My proposition is to amend 18D to remove the words 'done reasonably' and 'in good faith'. That would make any artistic work free from 18D. It would enable a cartoonist to go about their work, to criticise the government and to bring up political issues and be free of the sanctions of 18C. I would hope that the opposition could agree with this. I would hope that they could work with us in the coalition, because I do not believe that they believe that cartoonists should be censored for their political opinion.

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