Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

Earlier this week the Attorney-General shocked the Australian public by stepping in to defend the rights of bigots. He backed the defence not only with statements made to the media but with a proposal to bring the full force of the law to bear on minorities and vulnerable groups in the community who might infringe on the rights of bigots. What we have heard since are rumblings not only from his own backbenchers—the member for Hasluck, the member for Reid, and even Senator Seselja—but, today, from Premier Barry O'Farrell who also criticised the federal Attorney-General's comment that people have the right to be bigoted and declared that vilification on the grounds of race or religion is 'always wrong'. One of the most senior members in the Liberal Party in this country, Premier Barry O'Farrell, has declared that there should be limits when it comes to free speech. Premier O'Farrell recognises that free speech should not be at any cost. He said today:

In commendably seeking to protect freedom of speech, we must not lower our defences against the evil of racial and religious intolerance.

He said further:

Bigotry should never be sanctioned, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Vilification on the grounds of race or religion is always wrong. There's no place for inciting hatred within our Australia society.

That shows you how much Senator Brandis is out of touch not only within the Australian community but within his own Liberal Party on this issue of changing race hate laws in this country. I call on Premier Barry O'Farrell to go further and to lobby the Prime Minister. Tell the Prime Minister how out of touch Senator Brandis is, how out of touch these proposed new racial vilification laws are. I call on Premier O'Farrell to lobby the Prime Minister to have these laws scrapped. Words are good, and his words have been good today, but what we need now are actions. Actions are what we want from Premier O'Farrell. At least Premier O'Farrell has had the good sense to see that this is actually killing the Liberal Party. This is destroying the Liberal Party. The extremism that Senator Brandis has embarked upon and that Tony Abbott has encouraged is breaking the Liberal Party apart as well as posing a greater threat, of course, to the broader Australian community.

We have now been made aware that Senator Brandis's own cabinet colleagues have leaked information against him because they are so shocked by the lengths to which he will go to appease Andrew Bolt. The one thing we do know about these racial vilification changes put forward by Senator Brandis is that they are not being put in place for the greater good. They are being put in place to appease one man, to appease one journalist. That is no way to govern for all people in this nation.

To declare that the rights of bigots are more important than the rights of minorities, minorities who suffer extreme race hate speech on a daily basis in this country, is wrong. It is unfortunate, but we do have racism in this country. That is why we have free speech, but it is not at any cost. We have good laws in this country that have worked for 20 years and have provided protections to minorities and to ethnic groups. That is why Senator Brandis has not had one ethnic group, not one community group, come out in support of these laws. He has had not one of the 150, who signed their names to a letter last year, come out in support of his proposed changes.

Now, we have one of the highest Liberal Party members in this country saying that Senator Brandis has got it wrong. I thank Premier Barry O'Farrell for coming out, for putting it right and for saying that these laws are wrong. I call on Premier O'Farrell to lobby the Prime Minister and to tell him that Senator Brandis should scrap these proposed changes.