Attorney-General George Brandis has defended the government’s plan to repeal Section 18C of racial discrimination act, saying people had a ‘right to be bigots’.
On Monday, Senator Brandis told the Senate he would ensure a situation like the Andrew Bolt case would never happen again.
"Never again in Australia will we have a situation in which a person may be taken to court for expressing a political opinion," said Senator Brandis, after Indigenous Labor Senator Nova Peris questioned him about the plan.
''People do have a right to be bigots, you know.'' - George Brandis, Attorney-General.
He added that Section 18C "goes about the problem of dealing with racial vilification in the wrong way" and wanted to protect free speech.
"People do have a right to be bigots, you know," Senator Brandis said. "In a free country people do have rights to say things that other people find offensive or insulting or bigoted.
"People like Mr Bolt should be free to express any opinion on a social or a cultural or a political question that they wish to express - just as Mr Bolt would respect your right to express your opinions on social or political or cultural issues," he told Senator Peris.
When Labor's deputy leader Tanya Pilbersek asked the Prime Minister whether he agreed with Senator Brandis' comments, he said freedom of speech was to be "enjoyed", even if it offended people.
"Of course this Government is determined to try to ensure that Australia remains a free and fair and tolerant society, where bigotry and racism has no place," Mr Abbott said.
"But we also want this country to be a nation where freedom of speech is enjoyed.
"And sometimes, Madam Speaker, free speech will be speech which upsets people, which offends people."
The repeal of Section 18C arises particularly out of the 2011 prosecution of Andrew Bolt, a columnist for News Limited, publisher of The Australian, for violating the so-called hate-speech laws.
Section 18C states that it is unlawful for a person to "offend offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people... because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin."
A Federal Court judge found he had breached the Racial Discrimination Act because a pair of articles he wrote were not written in good faith and contained factual errors. And, the judge said, the articles would have offended a reasonable member of the Aboriginal community.
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