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

Last week, with the tragic death of Bill Leak from a massive heart attack at the age of 61, this nation lost a national treasure. It is worth reflecting on the last year of Bill Leak's life. There were two campaigns against him. One was a campaign by Islamic terrorists to kill him. He was forced to move his family and live in a safe house because of those threats. There was a second campaign against him, and that was to silence him.

I would like to quote the late Bill Leak's own words from his submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, which he made only a few months before his tragic passing:

… I was put through two months of incredible stress by the Commission’s investigation—

referring to the Australian Human Rights Commission. He went on:

The first complainant … didn’t have to justify anything she did. No one asked her any questions and it didn’t cost her a cent … the tortuous process had thrown my life into a state of utter chaos, and it’s not over yet …

He continued:

… the possibility that I may yet be required to defend myself in court still hovers, like a dark cloud, over my life.

Thirty-six hours before his passing, on a Wednesday evening, he also said:

Then, in October last year I realised there’s another group of people who are just as capable of making life hell for me if they fail to be amused by my wit and artistry.

Of course, he was saying those words tongue-in-cheek. He continued:

It’s just my luck that causing offence has been made an offence at the same time that taking offence has become fashionable. So now there’s a mob that won’t only punish you if your cartoon offends them, they’ll punish you if it’s offended someone else. They may be a little less murderous than your Islamist terrorists, but they’re no less unhinged and dangerous.

What happened to Bill Leak is shameful. It should never, ever happen in our country. No artist should ever have to justify their work before some government bureaucrat. That is the current situation that we have in our nation.

Some people have called Bill Leak a racist, but I will leave the last words on that to Bill Leak's friend Warren Mundine. He said:

Those who think it condemns all indigenous people should examine their own biases— (Time expired)

See this speech in context