The coalition's second most senior figure in the Senate insists the government won't be supporting a move by one of its backbenchers to change race hate-speech laws.
Liberal senator Cory Bernardi has thrown down the gauntlet to his colleagues, vowing to use the first week of the new parliament to introduce a private bill that seeks to remove the words 'offend' and 'insult' from a contentious section of the Racial Discrimination Act.
The government's position was very clear, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told ABC radio on Thursday: "We will not initiate or support any changes ... it's a debate we had two years ago."
Momentum is gathering inside the government for a change to section 18C of the act that makes it illegal to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate someone because of their race.
Senator Bernardi co-sponsored a private bill in the previous parliament that sought to remove the words 'offend' and 'insult' from the act.
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Coalition supporters of the change believe they are within one or two votes of securing a Senate majority on the issue.
