Australia's media organisations are warning that content will be restricted if proposed new anti-discrimination laws are passed.
In a joint Senate submission, they have outlined their concerns, which stem from a broadening of the definition of discrimination.
The federal government's proposed law is hoped to provide a simpler regime for business, organisations and individuals. It seeks to consolidate the five existing Commonwealth anti-discrimination acts into a single comprehensive law.
While it claims not to make significant changes to existing rules, it will prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time at a federal level, and includes a single, simplified test for discrimination.
It's that test which has the media industry concerned.
In a joint submission to the Senate Standing Committee earlier this week, Australia's biggest media companies outlined their issues, the main of which are plans to make it unlawful to offend or insult people, which they warn, could encourage audiences to be unnecessarily thin-skinned.
The laws may mean that political commentary, satire and religious and historically sensitive programming might be deemed offensive.
The submission includes an example of a 2006 claim filed against SBS in the Australian Human Rights Commission.
A complaint was made about the broadcast of an Armenian Genocide documentary which the network successfully defended based on a wealth of academic and historical experts commenting on the outcome of the conflict.
But the submission notes that if the complaint was made under the proposed bill, the result could have been dramatically different.
It claims that the conclusions reached by the Commission would have been based on the claimant's subjective reaction to the documentary, and not its objective offensiveness.
"It's in our DNA to be respectful to issues of discrimination, however our role is to provoke and inspire people to think about the world that they live in, and sometimes, that can cause offense," said SBS Chief Operating Officer Richard Finlayson.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the main objective of this project is to simplify and consolidate many laws into one, and if the Senate inquiry identifies that the drafting goes well beyond this, the federal government will closely consider those recommendations.
"We're contributing to a process: there have been over 500 submissions to the federal government on this particular issue, and we look forward to seeing what the outcome is," Mr Finlayson said.
A report into the inquiry is set for February the 18th.
Interview with Mark McMillan from the University of Melbourne via YouTube
