Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Attorney-General admitted right here in the Senate that the government were about protecting the rights of bigots. Well, hundreds of thousands of Australians disagreed with that. I believe no-one has a right to be a bigot. I will also take this opportunity to congratulate the thousands of Australians and hundreds of organisations who rose up to speak against these changes. People power has worked. Your voices have been heard in this win for tolerance and respect.

We do ourselves a total disservice if we as elected senators do not take the time to reflect on what message this sent to young Australians at a time when we are trying to stop bullying. What lessons do our children learn when they hear our country's first law officer standing up for bigots? It is not a lesson I would have thought we in this house would be proud to promote. Once again, for the record, let me state that I am not against free speech—not at all. I am against promoting hate speech, which is what these proposed changes were about. As a new senator in this chamber, I am extremely disappointed that we even had to have the debate in the first place.

I remain concerned that the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General have not ruled out reintroducing these changes sometime in the future. Senator Smith also made the suggestion that these changes could be reintroduced. I thought about his comment when he talked about bringing racism into the light. The reality is that, when you have been vilified and attacked racially, you remain in the dark. It is very difficult to get out of the dark. This law protects those people.

You do not have to be Indigenous or from one of the many international cultures that make Australia so fantastic to be appalled by what has transpired in this house. You do not have to have been personally subjected to racial abuse to understand why the weakening of these laws signalled a green light to racism. You do not have to have been a victim of hate or have been persecuted based on your race to have been offended and hurt by the proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act of the Abbott government.

In contrast to this, I recall attempts from the Attorney-General at the time to defend his previous position when he said:

… we offend and, I dare say, we insult each other every day. That is part of the robustness of the discussion of public issues.

To use this example as a defence signalled that the Attorney-General was drastically incorrect about what these changes would entail. I stand to correct the Attorney-General and say that in this house we do not attack and insult each other every day based on race, religion or cultural heritage.

I implore all of my fellow senators to show their support for section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act in its current form as a sign of standing up for all Australians and moving towards a progressive tomorrow. All Australians, especially young Australians, deserve no less, because we all have a right to be free from discrimination.