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Member for Brisbane, Teresa Gambaro, has told SBS that she has concerns over the proposal, and wants the public consultation process extended.
It’s due to end tomorrow, but Ms Gambaro claims the four-week period isn’t long enough to start a nation-wide conversation.
“As someone who has been on the receiving end of racial hatred speech for most of my life, I am most concerned that we as a nation we take the time to get the balance on these proposed changes right,” Ms Gambaro said in a written statement issued to SBS.
“While we cannot legislate to stop people’s thoughts, we can legislate to stop people’s conduct,” the Liberal MP said.
That statement comes after Attorney-General George Brandis last month said it was not government’s role to ban conduct that would hurt people’s feelings.
But Labor says opposition from the backbench is only useful if the MPs commit to blocking it in Parliament.
"It's not enough for some of these MPs on the government side to say they oppose it [the changes], without doing something about it and actually getting up and opposing it," Shadow Multicultural Affairs Minister Michelle Rowland said.
Senator Brandis announced the proposed changes last month, which would see the removal of the words “offend”, “insult” and “humiliate” from the Act.
Gillian Triggs, the President of the Human Rights Commission says she expects “hundreds if not thousands” of submissions to be made to the government on the changes.
The Human Rights Commission today made public its submission, which calls for the changes to be rejected.
Professor Triggs says the pendulum has swung too far.
“It [the proposed changes] allows you to say almost anything you want to in the public arena, and we feel that can lead to an abuse of the right to freedom of speech,” Professor Triggs said.
She says the changes “sends entirely the wrong signal” and that racial vilification is on the rise across Australia.
Self-described Freedom Commissioner, Tim Wilson, has a different take on the proposal.
He supports the government’s amendments.
“The question isn’t if the Act should change; it’s how the Act should change,” Mr Wilson said.
