Morrison Chickens Out on Free Speech

Once again, Scotty from Marketing is showing his mile-wide yellow streak when it comes to domestic, culture-war issues. And so are the rest of the so-called “Liberal Party”.

Scott Morrison’s latest changes to his proposed religious discrimination bill do nothing to allay concerns that it’s a dog of a bill that will only make a bad situation far worse.

Australians expressing reasonable and genuinely held faith-based views that might offend others will be shielded from prosecution by state-based anti-discrimination tribunals, under a reworked ­religious freedoms bill to be ­introduced to federal parliament next week […]

The Australian understands the clause, which will not protect speech that incites hatred or violence or vilifies or intimidates people, has been backed by faith leaders and other stakeholders.

In other words, all the offenderati have to do is stamp their little feet and hold their little bweafs and they’ll be able to bully anyone into silence.

When Tony Abbott was elected PM, his key platform was repealing Julia Gillard’s carbon tax. But another key issue for many of the Coalition’s conservative base was repealing the notorious Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Section 18C makes it unlawful for someone to do an act that is reasonably likely to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” someone because of their race or ethnicity. This was an amendment of the original law which required proof of material disadvantage. In other words, the law was changed from actually discriminating against people, to just hurting their feelings.

It was under Section 18C that Andrew Bolt was notoriously prosecuted, in what even some on the left called a “dangerous” judgement.

But, once in office, Abbott chickened out. The promise to repeal Section 18C was reneged.

At the same time, state laws crept even further. Victoria, for example, has outlawed “serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule” on the basis of religion, gender identity and so on.

The bill will also not allow for conscientious objections on the grounds that people, especially those in regional areas, should be able to access medical treatment including abortions.

Hospitals, schools and aged-care homes run by religious groups would be able to prioritise the hiring of people from their own faith. They cannot prioritise treatment of patients or residents of the same religion. A baker cannot refuse to bake a cake for a same-sex couple because it is still considered discrimination under the Sex Discrimination Act.

The Australian

All Morrison is cowardly doing is piling yet more offal on the dog’s breakfast of anti-free-speech legislation in Australia.

On the other hand, there is a very simple fix for all this: instead of piling more and more onerous constraints on what the government will allow people to say, sweep away the whole, Byzantine scam. Instead, define in simple, clear and unambiguous what the government is not allowed to prevent people saying.

Here’s a suggestion:

But it would take guts to do that.

Please share this article so that others can discover The BFD