Racial Discrimination Act

One number and one letter had many of Australia's politicians talking this week. 18C is a section of law that talks about racial discrimination. Some politicians say it should be changed to allow people to speak more freely. Others say that would be dangerous. Here's more on the issue.

Whether sharing their favourite foods, helping tie hijabs, or creating interesting body art; kids all around Australia came together on Harmony Day to celebrate different cultures!

KID 1: My group's a Bollywood group, we're doing Indian stuff.

KID 2: We're making kites out of straws and paper in Afghanistan and Pakistan, kites were really popular.

But on the same day, there wasn't much harmony in Australia's federal parliament! So what was all this arguing about? Well it was all to do with Australia's racial discrimination act. Let's go back in time to find out what that is.

You probably know that racial discrimination has been a big problem in Australia. For a long time, Indigenous Aussies were treated really badly/ They weren't even counted as citizens until the 1960s! There was also something called the White Australia Policy, which stopped many Asian and African from people entering the country.

WOMAN, ARCHIVE VISION: I think there's no two ways about it, we'd soon become outnumbered here if we allowed the Asiatics in.

But in the 1960s, more people started speaking out against discrimination. There were big protests to get equal rights for Indigenous Aussies and people from other cultures.

Then in 1975, the Federal government introduced the Racial Discrimination Act. It made it illegal to treat someone unfairly because of their race. Twenty years later, in 1995, another section was added to those laws, called Section 18C. It made it illegal to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate a person based on their race.

In recent years, that part has caused some controversy. Like in 2011, when a newspaper columnist was found to have broken 18C in two articles he'd written about Indigenous Australians a couple of years earlier. Some people thought the ruling was unfair and campaigned to change 18C, but it never happened.

That brings us up to date! PM Malcolm Turnbull says now his government will have another go at changing it.

PRIME MINISTER MALCOLM TURNBULL: Section 18C has lost its credibility. It lost it a long time ago.

He wants to scrap the words ‘offend’, ‘insult’ and ‘humiliate’ and replace them with the word 'harass'. The idea is to make a clearer line between someone feeling threatened or just having their feelings hurt by comments about their race. The government says the change will help protect free speech, even if it's the kind of speech some people don't like, so only the more serious cases would be taken to court.

PRIME MINISTER MALCOLM TURNBULL: We are strengthening the race hate laws, these are stronger laws, more effective laws because they are clearer laws.

But some politicians are incredibly worried about that change and say it could make people think it's ok to say racist things.

TONY BURKE, SHADOW MINISTER FOR CITIZENSHIP AND MULTICULTURAL AUSTRALIA: Children all around Australia are turning up to their classrooms wearing orange for Harmony Day and they're talking about harmony. The liberal and national politicians in this building are here talking about making it ok to deliver racial insults.

LINDA BURNEY, LABOR MP: If people think that racial discrimination is not an issue in this country, then they should stand in the shoes of people from a migrant background and they should stand in the shoes of Aboriginal people.

The government still has to get enough support in parliament to get its changes through, so it doesn't look like there'll be harmony on this controversial topic anytime soon!

• Amelia Moseley | Reporter
• The history of the Racial Discrimination Act: ABC News | weblink
• Section 18C: Political debate prompts Australians to share their experiences with racism: ABC News | weblink
• Discrimination: BTN | history
• Racism: BTN | history
• It stops with me: Human Rights Commission | weblink
• Australia | Map
• Racial Discrimination Act | Worksheet
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