Community groups warn planned changes to the NT Anti-Discrimination Act risk rise of hate speech

A coalition of 28 community organisations warn Territorians will be exposed to hate speech and discrimination if the CLP pushes ahead with its planned changes to anti-discrimination laws.

NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby. The CLP has said it will repeal some of the anti-discrimination reforms introduced by Labor three years ago. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A coalition of community organisations, lawyers and religious groups has called on the Chief Minister to abandon plans to repeal sections of the Northern Territory’s anti-discrimination laws, warning it risks wilfully exposing Territorians to hate speech.

The Country Liberal government has confirmed it will walk back controversial vilification laws introduced in 2022, arguing no Territorian should be hauled before the anti-discrimination commissioner for “telling a joke at the pub”.

The rights of religious organisations to discriminate in favour of their faith will also be restored, such as allowing religious schools to prioritise same-faith teachers.

Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has indicated none of the other reforms brought in by the former Labor government would be on the chopping block, however exact details are yet to be seen.

Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill

This month 28 organisations including the NT Mental Health Coalition, Anglicare NT, Human Rights Law Centre, Equality Australia, and Amnesty International wrote a joint letter to Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro expressing “profound concerns” about the flagged reforms.

“Your government’s planned changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act would send us backwards, stripping vulnerable Territorians of protections and wilfully exposing them to hate speech and discrimination,” the letter said.

The hate speech clause set to be axed prohibits a person from doing something in public that is reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate a person or group because of a personal attribute such as race or gender.

Equality Australia legal director Heather Corkhill said repealing the clause would make the Territory “a stark outlier as the only place in Australia with zero protections against vilification”.

“At a time when hate is rising across the country and many communities are feeling unsafe, the Northern Territory should be strengthening protections – not taking them away,” she said.

Brad Hayes, IEU Federal Secretary.

Independent Education Union of Australia said religious schools had proven their capacity to build communities of faith “without a special right to discriminate”.

“School staff and students shouldn’t suffer discrimination due to their personal lives,” federal secretary Brad Hayes said.

“Such treatment would be unlawful in every other industry. It has no place in today’s workplace.”

Fair Agenda executive director Renee Carr said changes to religious discrimination would hit women harder than men.

“If these changes go ahead, single mothers, women who fall pregnant outside of marriage, and people in de facto relationships could be fired or forced out of their jobs,” Ms Carr said.

“A male teacher can have a child outside of marriage without anyone knowing – but a pregnant woman can’t hide it.”

Attorney-General Boothby told parliament earlier this year parents should be able to send their kids to a religious school and know their teachers will be of the same faith.

“(Labor) basically removed the protections for our faith-based schools in the Act,” she said.

“The second part we are looking to change in the Anti-Discrimination Act is the removal of the word ‘offence’, because why should a bureaucrat decide if you are offended by something or not?

“That is ridiculous and an overreach.”

Originally published as Community groups warn planned changes to the NT Anti-Discrimination Act risk rise of hate speech