Government’s proposed 18c reform

“The government’s proposal to reform 18C is a major step forward for free speech.I am pleased the government has been guided by the human rights committee’s report to change the Human Rights Commission’s processes and the law itself. Only a combination of these two reforms will give the Australian people confidence we won’t see another QUT students or Bill Leak case.This bill strikes a better balance between protecting freedom of speech and ensuring that racial abuse is unlawful by including the new term ‘harass’ and retaining the term ‘intimidate’. I hope the parliament passes this reasonable compromise measure.”