‘This is no longer the mutterings of a few members of the right-wing fringe of Mr Turnbull’s party, ‘ shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus and citizenship spokesman Tony Burke said in a statement.
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Well, when you put it that way, why would Mr Turnbull devote himself to reducing spending when one of our fundamental freedoms was being taken away?
Labor believes Senator Bernardi’s bill is a direct result of Mr Turnbull’s failure to stand up to his backbench.
Section 18C is a rallying point for conservative and libertarian senators and, in total, 20 senators – 13 from the government and 7 from the crossbench including Bob Day, Derryn Hinch, David Leyonhjelm and Pauline Hanson’s quartet – signed the motion.
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has tried to hold off the new push to water down provisions of the RDA, urging colleagues to focus on “bread and butter” issues such as budget fix. The ABC also quotes Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus saying that the push is “open rebellion” against the Prime Minister. “I’m not suggesting it isn’t an important issue”.
The bill seeks to remove the words “offend” and “insult” from section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. “That does not preclude any member of the government, particularly a backbencher, proposing that we should have plans to address it and from putting that forward for public debate”, he said.
“Ultimately the government will choose its own agenda, it’s got a number of things it wants to be a priority”.
“Here we are, nearly a year since Turnbull took over from Tony Abbott, and the Liberals are still slashing and burning Australia’s renewable energy industry, still standing in the way of marriage equality and still trying to destroy the anti-discrimination laws that help make our country one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world”, Senator Di Natale said.
“A lot of my colleagues feel strongly about this, I’m pleased the Prime Minister is sympathetic to this”.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to personally introduce the bill along with two others on industrial relations – tougher penalties for union corruption and a bill to protect volunteers following the Country Fire Authority dispute in Victoria.
Race hate law revolt: Liberal senator Cory Bernardi (bottom) is pushing for changes to the Racial Discrimination Act.
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Thirty-nine votes are needed to pass the bill through the Senate. “If you can’t explain it, you can’t defend it”.
