A Senate crossbencher has lodged a complaint with the human rights watchdog after being described as an “angry white male” in a newspaper column.
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It is reportedly the first complaint of its kind for the Australian Human Rights Commission (HRC) under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
Senator Leyonhjelm is campaigning for the section to be overturned, and says he’s making the complaint to highlight the impact the law has on free speech.
Mr Abbott, now a backbencher, said last week that his attempt was overly ambitious and that he should have restricted his proposed changes to repealing the words “offend” and “insult” while preserving the ban on speech that humiliates or intimidates.
Section 18C of the Act makes it unlawful to commit an act that would reasonably offend, insult, humiliate, or intimidate someone due to their race, colour, or ethnic origin.
Kenny was taking aim at the pair over comments on ABC’s Insiders on 7 August that section 18C should be repealed because “offence is always taken, not given”.
‘The comments are reasonably likely in all the circumstances to offend or insult some white males’. “Of course, if I succeed in having Section 18C repealed, Mr Kenny will be free to insult me as much as he likes”, the statement said. You may remember it as the law that Andrew Bolt was found to have breached back in 2011 after he wrote that fair skinned Aboriginal people had chosen to identify as Indigenous in order to win prizes and get ahead in their careers.
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Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he would repeal Section 18C in 2013, but later abandoned his attempt amid strong opposition.
