Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to proudly oppose the Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2017, which makes significant changes to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and to the Australian Human Rights Commission Act of 1986. I do so on the basis of recent polls, which have informed us that 80 per cent of Australians do not want any change; in fact they want the words to stay as they are. So you would have to ask: why are we pursuing a change that so many Australians are opposed to?

It is that age-old problem that the Turnbull government has had—that is, that they have got an extreme right-wing backbench who rule the day and they are, again, ruling the day. Because the numbers are so tight in the House, they say, 'Jump,' and our current Prime Minister, unfortunately, asks: 'How high?'

There is no doubt that the government originally intended to try to rush this bill through the parliament. There has been inadequate time for reporting the bill. It was introduced to the Senate on Wednesday, 27 March and referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee the next day for inquiry. But the government, through its numbers, shamefully worked to shut down a proper inquiry and instead demanded that the committee report on Tuesday, 28 March. Labor wanted a proper inquiry, not the sham agreed to by the government and some crossbenchers in this place, and we moved a more sensible and reasonable reporting time of 9 May, which would have allowed for proper consultation, but that was knocked off by the government, with the support of some of the crossbench.

No Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians or representative bodies were invited to appear before the committee, and that is quite shameful. This is despite the availability of the Aboriginal Legal Service (ACT/NSW), who sought to be heard during the hearing. Government members of the committee denied the Aboriginal Legal Service an opportunity to speak. Why? What was the government afraid of? This is yet another disgraceful example of the arrogance and the out-of-touch nature of this Turnbull government.

What is it that the government believe individuals do not have the freedom to express under the current act? They have never, ever been able to answer that question. The government has failed to provide any compelling arguments for either of the two proposed changes to section 18C as outlined in schedule 1 of the bill. Why is it that the Turnbull government wants to legitimise offence, insult and humiliation, all in the name of supposed 'free speech'? The only response we have heard from the Turnbull government is that they believe Australians who look different will not be attacked. The Prime Minister, his ministers and, indeed, the backbenchers—including in the last speech we heard here—try to pretend that all Australians are somehow are bigger than this. What arrogance! What absolute arrogance! It demonstrates just how out of touch and out of step the Prime Minister and indeed all members of the government are if they genuinely think that we do not have racism in this country and that racism is not on the rise.

I saw firsthand the race hate emails that former Senator Nova Peris received. I considered myself to be broad minded. I thought I was beyond being shocked by what people said or did but, when Nova showed me the emails and social media posts that vilified her simply because of the colour of her skin, I was deeply, deeply shocked and very ashamed. The comments were appalling, they were disgraceful and they were uttered by fellow Australians. Sadly there were not just a few of them; there were many. Somehow the writers of this hate speech thought they were entitled to vilify Nova Peris simply because of the colour of her skin.

Let me put on the record in this parliament once again that I stand for free speech, but I do not stand for the right to offend, insult or humiliate. As a white Anglo-Saxon woman, I have never experienced racism, but nonetheless these proposed changes are personal for me. I have two grandchildren. As with most grandparents, they are the apple of my eye. Aidan is 18 years old. Physically he has brown skin and Asian features. Some time ago, I asked Aidan if he had ever been taunted because of his physical features, I was shocked when he answered, 'Yes, and not just once but many, many times.' That is what Aidan told me—'Many, many times,' he said. Then he named the taunts he had received, disgusting terms which I will not dignify by repeating them here in this chamber. They were words which were clearly offensive, insulting and humiliating. I will never understand why we as human beings are fearful of those who look different to the mainstream, who look different to me, and why we think it is okay to use such insulting terms. Aidan was born in Australia but has even been told to 'go back to where you come from'. His father, my son, also born in Australia but with a Polish last name. has been complimented on his 'good command of English', because he has a Polish last name.

My granddaughter, Charlee, has learnt the lesson of racism at a very young age. When she was living in Geraldton, a regional town in the Mid West of Western Australia, she was about 11 years old, and we were out shopping together in Geraldton. We passed a particular shop, and Charlee pointed that shop out to me. She said she had visited that shop with her mum. Charlee is Kija. She said the shopkeeper had followed her and her mother around, watching them, thinking they might steal something. When I asked Charlee why the shopkeeper may have thought that, she responded by saying, 'Because I'm Aboriginal.' It is a shameful that 11-year-old Charlee has learnt that lesson at such a tender age. Charlee has learnt that the colour of her skin somehow makes her different to other people and causes some people to be suspicious of her

Senator Patrick Dodson said in this chamber on 24 November 2016:

There is nothing wrong with freedom, particularly if you are from the ruling class. There is a hell of a lot wrong with freedom if you have to battle to experience it—if you have to fight for it. I was born before the 1967 referendum, when we as Aboriginal people were not even counted in the census of this country, when this government did not have any power to make laws for Aboriginal people because it was excluded by the crafters of our Constitution in 1901. The whole battle for recognition—for freedom to enjoy the basics of being a citizen —in this nation had to be fought for by black and white Australians: Jessie Street, Faith Bandler and many others.

My colleague Senator McCarthy just last week, when taking note of answers, had this to say on 18C amendments in response to answers given by Senator Brandis:

As a white man growing up in Petersham, attending private schools, I am sure you have never been denied access or service in a shop. You have never had taxis drive past, pretending not to see you. You have never received hateful letters and emails because of your race or the colour of your skin. I really wish I could believe there are not any racists in Australia. But certainly my personal experience, and my family’s experience, informs me of the reality that I live in this country.

That has been the experience of my grandchildren, Aidan and Charlee. That is what they have learnt.

On Tuesday, in this place, Senator Brandis made this extraordinary statement in relation to 18C when he said in part:

But the public discussion of section 18C continued, in particular because we continued to see section 18C being used as a vehicle for the persecution of innocent Australians …

Well, I think that my grandchildren, Aidan and Charlee, are innocent and yet they have been vilified, they have been humiliated and they have been insulted because of the colour of their skin. Well, I say to Senator Brandis and others in here who think it is okay to remove those words—who somehow think we are live in this utopia where we all get along and no-one makes insulting remarks to anyone else—walk a day in the shoes of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person in this country. Walk a day in the shoes of someone from an ethnic community to get a real understanding of the meaning of persecution.