Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

  (i) on 21 March 2017, Harmony Day, the Senate passed a motion that acknowledged "the success of Australia's laws in protecting Australians from discrimination on the basis of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin, key to Australia's success as a multicultural society",

  (ii) the comments of the Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull, that "Here in Australia we have no tolerance for anti-Semitism, no tolerance for racism, no tolerance for anybody who seeks to demean or de-legitimise or dehumanise somebody because of their race or their religion or their culture", and

  (iii) the comments of the Coalition to Advance Multiculturalism, a collection of twenty organisations, that "The Turnbull Government's decision to pursue watering down of protections against racial vilification is utterly shameful and at odds with the principles of multicultural Australia";

(b) calls on all members of the Parliament to acknowledge the importance of legislative protections against actions that offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people on the basis of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person or of some or all of the people in the group; and

(c) reaffirms its commitment to a multicultural Australia in which racism and discrimination have no place.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians value freedom of speech and they recognise the enormous benefits multiculturalism has delivered to our country. We are a proud multicultural society. There is no place for hate speech in Australia. All Australians have the right to live free from fear of violence or racial discrimination. The government condemns racism and anybody who seeks to demonise someone because of their race. The government's reforms will strengthen Australia's antivilification laws, enhance freedom of speech and improve the complaint-handling processes of the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Question agreed to.