Joseph Caputo is not a politician.
He is the head of the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia.
And Mr Caputo says, now the Federal Government's attempt to change the Racial Discrimination Act has been blocked in the Senate, he hopes the issue will go away.
"I hope that, from now on, this issue will never see the light of day again. You know, we should just put it behind us and move on."
But the politicians in Canberra appear unlikely to heed his call.
Late Thursday night, the Government failed in its attempt to change the wording of section 18C of the act.
The law currently makes it illegal to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate on the basis of race and ethnicity.
The Government wanted to replace the words offend, insult and humiliate with harass.
Labor, the Greens and some independent senators blocked the changes.
But Liberal senator James Paterson says in a statement that, despite the defeat, the debate is not over.
"I have no doubt we will soon again be debating changes to 18C, and I know the public will have even less sympathy for this flawed law than they do today."
Before entering parliament, Senator Paterson was a member of the Institute of Public Affairs, a research centre which has been lobbying for changes to the Racial Discrimination Act.
"I think this is going to continue. This is not an issue that's going anywhere. And I encourage people to participate in this debate, because I think, the more that people participate in this debate, the more informed our politicians will be about the changes that are necessary to enlarge freedom of speech in this country."
Mr Breheny says the institute will continue to lobby for changes in the coming months and years.
And he says, now the Coalition's official policy is to support changes, he expects the Coalition to take that policy to the next election.
"I think it is a great thing that we have moved from the position of the former Abbott Government, where the changes to 18C under his proposal were dropped, as a policy that was dropped by the Coalition, I think it's terrific that it's come back. I think it's wonderful that the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General and others in the Government have recognised that this an issue that is really significant."
Labor MP Linda Burney says Liberal Party members who support changing section 18C will, indeed, be emboldened by the Government's policy change.
She suggests that, if Malcolm Turnbull was trying to appease those supporters in the Coalition, it could backfire on him.
"So if the Prime Minister thinks he has squared this away,* hung out the olive branch** to say, 'Look, I tried but it's failed,' and shored up his leadership, I think it's going to have the opposite effect."
Ms Burney says she also she thinks the whole debate has been harmful to the country's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and migrant communities.
"I think it's been incredibly harmful. I mean, this is the Federal Government of the most successful multicultural nation in the world, with the oldest living history in the world -- that being First Peoples -- actually advocating the watering down of race-hate laws. I just think it's an abominable, terrible thing that this Government has tried to push on the Australian community."
