Greens Alderman Helen Burnet is calling for Hobart City Council to oppose the Abbott Government’s plans to make changes to Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
“I believe that these changes, which would make many forms of racial abuse lawful, are potentially very damaging to our community,” says Alderman Burnet.
“These proposed changes have met with outcry from ethnic minority groups all across the country; groups whose members face racism on a regular basis. They fear that these changes would be seen as a green light to the racist fringe that sadly still exists in our community.”
Alderman Burnet points to a video that went viral on social media last week, which showed a woman on a bus hurling racial abuse at fellow commuters. “Shocking as that video was, under the revised act, this woman’s vicious abuse would not have been unlawful, according to president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs. That gives us some idea of just how diluted the act would be in its revised form.”
“Attorney-General George Brandis may believe that ‘People have a right to be bigots’ but this is not a view shared by the majority of Australians,” continues Alderman Burnet. “Already, as part of the Go Local campaign, 60 local councils nationwide – representing over 5 million people – have passed motions expressing their communities’ unhappiness with the changes.”
“Tomorrow at Hobart City Council’s Strategic Governance meeting, it will be Hobart’s turn. I will be moving a motion to strongly resist the proposed changes to the act. We at the local government level need to combat the language of hate at every opportunity.”
“Hobart has a good track record of welcoming refugees. We are fast becoming a cosmopolitan, multicultural city and I believe that it is in the interests of all our citizens to ensure that we as Tasmania’s capital city add our voice to those against these divisive changes being introduced by the Abbott government.”
Greens Alderman Helen Burnet
