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Dear Tombee,

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You wrote :

« Nothing highlights more the absurdity of 18C and the hypocrisy of its supporters than the impunity with which anyone can hurl the insult ‘racist!’ at whomever they please »
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Your thinking is a bit muddled there, I’m afraid, Tombee :

Hurling that somebody is a racist - if it's true - is not an insult. It's a fact. It's an insult only if it's not true. You make a sweeping statement about “whomever they please” - which implies that it could be anybody and everybody, indiscriminately – both racists and non-racists. But it cannot possibly be, as you assert, an insult to both. It could only be an insult to non-racists.

Also, hurling that somebody is a racist does not “highlight … the absurdity of 18C and the hypocrisy of its supporters …”. Again, the person hurled against is either a racist or not a racist. If he is a racist, then the hurler has every right to express his indignation with force.

If, on the contrary, the person hurled upon is not a racist, then 18C does not apply and has nothing to do with the matter, as you mistakenly indicate. The hurler may possibly be pursued in the courts for defamation under the uniform Australian Defamation Act 2006 - provided a suit is brought before the courts within one year (or three years if the court is satisfied an action could not have been brought within one year).

Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, we Australians have no right to freedom of expression under the Australian Constitution.

That's just one of many reasons why I, personally, consider that we badly need an entirely new constitution including an embedded bill of rights.

So far, we’ve managed to blunder along with a more and more outdated and less and less appropriate document, full of holes, insufficiencies and inefficiencies – just fit to be put on display in a museum with the skeletons of prehistoric animals.

It's not the same country it used to be !

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BP says, "It's a fact. It's an insult only if it's not true."

Tell that to Bill Leak. His now famous cartoon hit the nail on the head. He clearly pitched it at the situation in remote communities, not urban aborigines who were the loudest in their condemnation of him.

Some have said there is no basis for reviewing 18c. The QUT and Bill Leak cases are all that is needed as an indication that PC has been taken a step too far.

If I am called a racist, by anyone, simply because I am a member of the white Caucasian race, I am offended.

Incidentally, I have heard the the word used by young people in the same pejorative way they use the term "gay", i.e. this or that's gay/racist. I have no idea how this come's about, but it may be a reaction to the casual overuse of the term "racist" to deflect any real criticism by someone prepared to stick their head above the PC parapet to tell the truth, such as Pearson or Leak.

Banjo Patterson:

The fact that somebody is a racist is immaterial until they do racist things. It is racist actions which should be targeted and such actions should have consequences for the victim which are clearly discernible.

This is how our law operates. It is about actions and consequences and not about how victims feel. Subjective feelings are just that - subjective. No one can tell if what someone else feels is true or whether they are trying to manipulate the law to get some advantage which they do not deserve.

We have to protect the way we constitute our laws for the sake of everyone in society and the burden of proof is a fundamental principle of those laws. 18C does not uphold that principle but seeks to protect certain people from racial offence. People may be hurt by racial slurs but the need to protect our justice system is much more important than their hurt.

We all get hurt in one way or another but we do not all demand special protection which would jeopardise our fundamental legal principles. We put our hurt into perspective and find other ways to deal with it.

Stan Grant being a racist simply puts him in the same moral position as a white man that is racist. Maybe I should lodge an 18c complaint against him.

The only problem is that I don't care enough.

Perhaps then "prove your feelings were hurt", could be a defence.
If hurt feelings could not be proved that would be the end of it.
The problem though seems to be that the HRC is a racist organisation !

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Dear Luciferase, Dear phanto,

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There comes a time when there are so many holes in the rusty old bucket that you just can’t fix it anymore.

Our old colonial constitution was drafted in the 1890’s. Population was about 3.5 million in those days. But we are no longer a British colony. We abandoned the White Australia policy in 1973 and have since become one of the world’s most multicultural societies, including indigenous peoples.

Our rusty old bucket (the constitution) is so old and fragile it is full of holes and beyond repair. We tried to patch it up 44 times since it was drafted 120 years ago but only succeeded 4 times.

The only way it can be fixed is by referendum and that’s such a long and difficult task it is almost certain to fail. Howard knew that. That’s why he used it to preserve royalty and prevent the country from becoming a republic.

I agree with Tombee that there’s no sense in trying to patch-up 18C, but I do not agree with him that it should be abolished altogether.

I note that even the regretted Bill Leak himself clearly identified the problem as a lack of protection of Free Speech under the Australian constitution when he wrote in the final paragraph of his submission in 2016 :

« I wish the Joint Parliamentary Committee well in its deliberations on this critically important issue of ‘Freedom of Speech in Australia’ »

The problem is not 18C. The problem is that our rusty old bucket has too many big, gaping holes in it. Freedom of expression (speech, cartoons, etc.) has fallen through one of them. The Prime Minister has fallen through another one. There is nothing in the constitution about a Prime Minister. It says the British Crown is the head of state.

The only sensible thing to do would be to wrap our old colonial constitution in fine silk tissue paper (just plain white would be nice) to carefully conserve all the dusty bits and pieces - and get a new one.

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