No right to be a bigot after all?

We note with interest a Fairfax report this morning that Attorney-General George Brandis is watering down his controversial changes to the Racial Discrimination Act that would have given people greater rights to make racist insults and indulge in hate speech. There’s been extensive community condemnation of Brandis’ plans; with a tough budget before it, the Abbott government seems to be backing away from a fight on the RDA.

We don’t deny Australia has a free speech problem — but selective changes to the RDA, which was designed to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens, were always going to be a hard sell. And making hurried law based on the wishes of Andrew Bolt is a mug’s game.

As Bernard Keane has argued in Crikey before, when it comes to the freedom to express ourselves, Australians have very little:

“Our defamation laws are painfully restrictive. The legal industry issues suppression orders like confetti. Our media outlets are even worried about being dragged before foreign courts … We’ve seen ASIO raid a former intelligence officer in an effort to silence his revelations about bugging of the East Timorese cabinet. The Federal Police have admitted they have used telecommunications data to search for whistleblowers talking to journalists and politicians.”

So put those RDA changes on the backburner, Brandis. We’d prefer some community consultation on the real threats to freedom of speech in this country — including laws designed to protect the rich, privileged and powerful.