How dare you call me an angry white male, you racists

WHEN a journo called me an “angry white male”, I wanted to show that the Racial Discrimination Act is ridiculous, says David Leyonhjelm.

• LEYONHJELM: ‘ANGRY WHITE MALE’ IS RACIAL ABUSE

AS a Senator I get all kinds of correspondence from the public, and not all of it is polite discourse and reasoned debate.

When something I say causes a wave of moral indignation — which seems to be every second week — I have been known to post a “Hurt Feelings Complaint Form” on my social media.

It’s a joke. The form asks you to explain exactly how your feelings were hurt and then gives explicit instructions about what to do with the complaint form.

However, what is truly preposterous is that there is an official hurt feelings complaint form that you can fill out on such matters that is taken completely seriously.

The form is not only backed by the laws enshrined in section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, it is poured over by a team of tax-guzzling public servants, some of whom are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to figure out exactly what you should and should not be allowed to say.

In fact, according to the Act it doesn’t even matter if your feelings are actually hurt, but only if it is reasonably likely someone of your racial group had their feelings hurt.

Last week, when a journalist from another newspaper directed a number of insults at me on the grounds of being an “angry white male”, I decided to take this opportunity to show that the Racial Discrimination Act is ridiculous.

Liberal Democrat Senator, David Leyonhjelm / Supplied

I filled out one of these eight-page complaint forms, sent it to the Commission, and now await their response with interest.

This puts us in the absurd position where a journalist is having a law he supports that suppresses free speech being used against him, and a politician is using a law he would like abolished.

But none of this is really about me, the journalist, or the public servants at the Human Rights Commission. Nor is it a joke.

Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act is a terrible law that has serious consequences.

Questions of Aboriginal and Australian identities are important matters. Unfortunately, following the Andrew Bolt case, we are restrained from speaking frankly about them.

Do you feel welfare should be based on need rather than racial identity? A lawyer might advise you to keep your trap shut.

The Racial Discrimination Act is not just a problem for journalists.

Three former students of the Queensland University of Technology were dragged through the courts after they made comments on Facebook objecting to being excluded from indigenous-only computer labs.

Three years later, total legal expenses are reported to have amounted to nearly one million dollars.

The whole idea behind the Racial Discrimination Act is that we are too dumb to say what we think, too stupid to assess what other people say, and too helpless to control our reactions to what others say.

Now that’s what I call offensive.

David Leyonhjelm is the Liberal Democrats Senator for NSW