Within the current debate about the Commonwealth Attorney General repealing or amending sections of the Racial Discrimination Act, one aspect strikes me as a bit anomalous.
Can I really be the only person contemplating this elephant in Mr Brandis' room?
The public is well aware that in the post-911 political climate, & more so since the revelations of CIA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, the State and Federal governments have been ignoring our civil rights. In fact, they've colluded in surreptitious, late night parliamentary discussions, the unbalanced bipartisan justifications for eroding our civil rights - even constitutionally protected ones and also those agreed upon and upheld under international legal principles and treaties.
The Commonwealth Attorney General has done a complete 180 degree turn and now, wants to protect Australians' rights, specifically, the right to make and publish racist comment. As demonstrated in the findings of the 'Bolt Case', the govt is citing as its inspiration for encouraging greater racism in the media, this protection extends to comment that it is not only clearly misguided, but is also completely erroneously researched.
Among the worthy, myriad, mainstay Australian rudimentary rights to strive to protect, in my view, it is an unusual choice, on his part. But, next time I am contemplating & op-ed-ing about the 99% of our parliamentarians' heritage and appearances, I am sure Mr Brandis will feel very comforted knowing he legislated for those views to be legalized. Deep down, I am sure that those 99% of his peers will thank him that they can now be described in the press more, or even less, accurately.
I don't see the government lining up to protect my right to privacy, or my right to information. My right to express myself is pretty kaput in view of media ownership laws and my right to be free to associate, may well be under threat, as an independent journalist who manages sources equally and balances smaller independent sources against leviathan govt and corporate counterparts. So, why on Earth is my right to be racist so utterly vital to the Commonwealth Attorney General that the Racial Discrimination Act 'hate speech' protections need to be repealed? It's funny that he feels so strongly that I should have a right to object to his colour or his religion - uncharacteristically obliging of him. Must've been a slow day - "hmmn, this'll liven the house up..."
The Australian government, and colonial govt before it, openly enacted political policies that perpetrated racial persecution. I think they should be able to recall that fairly vividly as they only apologized for their past racist barbarism just in 2008. Despite the implementation of the RDA[1975], the racist hangover is still visible in the inequitable political and social policies that relate to minorities, particularly Aboriginal nations.
Under such govt policies as those that fuelled the Stolen Generations and 'Forgotten Australians', Aboriginal children, dark skinned children, children of mixed heritage, the disabled and those who were from poor homes, were abducted, most were physically & emotionally abused, many were sexually assaulted; they were often tortured, and all, by non-indigenous government workers.
In view of this wicked history of blatant racial oppression and persecution, Australia would seem to have a fairly strong mandate to prioritize fundamental racial equality in law, over and above, any concerns regarding the free speech of 'shock jocks' and their pop media print and web equivalents.
It is also important to note that Australia does not have a constitutional right of free speech. For the colonial government ruling over Australia - England's penal colony, free speech simply was not in the best interests of the State. So today, Australia has merely an implied right of free speech that has been interpreted into law from legal precedent. Australia's own govt declared Indigenous people 'flora and fauna' to avoid legal obligations under British colonial law, but once that issue was sent to referendum in 1967, the Australian public rebuked the government's racism and Aboriginal people were acknowledged as equals under the law. Despite this, inequality is still legislated and drafted into govt policy where it relates to Aboriginal people. This can be no more clearly seen than in the NT, where over 95% of ATSI prisoners are hearing impaired.
Since the proposed repeal of 18c and then, the amendment of RDA[1975] s.18c, d & e, many prominent people have spoken out against changes to the Act. And, this week I received a very unusual and verbose response from the Cth Attorney General specifically addressing the Jewish community - terrible as it is, race hate speech in Australia is certainly not limited to anti-Semitism and Brandis' excessive and almost apologetic explanations for the proposals are a bit rich, considering Australia's bleak history of govt race crimes and genocide against Aboriginals, and its discrimination and victimization of Muslims enacted through the 'justice' system and post-911 legislation. As Gawenda states, "This is not a Jewish issue..." It almost seems every word from the minister is divisive, wrongfooted and set to undermine community cohesion.
Pop-media darling, Warren Mundine, has also weighed in on the debate, as did Langton - thankfully. But it is at times like these, that the real limitations on free expression really come to the fore. There are few avenues for most minority and multicultural voices to express their views in Australia's mainstream media monopolies. That racial bias is a hangover from the govt's use of the news media to disseminate racist propaganda during the eras of the Stolen Generations and Forgotten Australians.
Today I read this submission to the AG regarding the proposed amendments.
##NB - If you send me your submissions I will be happy to publish them here.
Laws that strike at the heart of multiculturalism, and promote racial hatred instead of criminalizing it, will reduce our unique and unparalleled quality of life, and impinge on essential Australian democratic values. As a nation, and at such a tumultuous period in history, we simply cannot afford to indulge such public demonstrations of racism and ignorance.
##Update - this today from Rachel Ball