Gillian from Human Wrongs Commission triggered as facts fail
And Lateline goes to the people. Yes, that’s right, Lateline is still on television.
Everyone hates the 18C inquiry report. The Australian, yesterday:
Malcolm Turnbull will be forced to rule on a damaging Liberal split over race-hate laws after a parliamentary inquiry failed to agree on the strongest way to defend free speech ...
Except human rights chief Gillian Triggs. She still loves 18C. RN Breakfast, yesterday:
We really don’t have a problem with 18C ... We know it works extremely well ...
Working well? You for real, Gillian? The Australian, November 5, 2016:
A judge has thrown out a racial hatred case brought against three university students from Queensland over Facebook posts, prompting a scathing rebuke of the Human Rights Commission and its president, Gillian Triggs ... He (Tony Morris QC, the students’ lawyer) said Professor Triggs drew a $400,000-plus salary but had failed to do her job, which was to inquire properly into 18C cases and dismiss them if they lacked substance.
And there’s our own Bill Leak who was threatened with 18C for a cartoon. Leak speaking to the 18C inquiry, February 1, 2017:
I am quite sure that, when it was drafted, it was drafted for all of the best possible reasons. But now we are seeing that it has fallen into the hands of a body that is being very reckless with it. They have recognised that they have got a weapon there. This is a weapon that they are using against citizens like me, not for having abused somebody ... but for telling the truth.
Professor Triggs is in a bit of bother about that ... The Australian, yesterday:
Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has been accused of misleading the Senate after she claimed Bill Leak did not assert a provocative cartoon was drawn in “good faith” ... Justin Quill, the lawyer representing Leak and The Australian, said Professor Triggs had misled the Senate by her “extraordinary assertion”.
The ABC’s David Lipson goes to a Kmart carpark for answers. Lateline, Tuesday:
Vox Pop #1: No, not really. (On whether he thinks about 18C often.)
Vox Pop #2: It’s almost at semantics stage. I’m not sure it needs to be changed but if they want to, I don’t think it matters too much, one way or the other.
Vox Pop #3: I’d have no idea, I’ve never read it (laughs).
This scientific poll showed support for changing 18C. The Australian, January 31, 2017:
The (Galaxy Research) poll of 1000 people taken last month shows 48 per cent approve of calls to remove the words “insult’ and “offend” from section 18C ...
But if the vox pop people don’t care, the nation musn’t. David Lipson on Lateline, continued:
Pretty conclusive.
Three randoms in a carpark? Free speech is bigger than that. The Australian, yesterday:
Reform of the 18C machinery has been a long time coming. Time to get started.
The Coalition did win an election promising 18C reform. ABC News, September 8, 2013:
With a national swing towards the Coalition of around 3.5 per cent, Mr Abbott has led the Coalition to a strong victory ...
Will the Kmart Crew decide the Liberal leadership? Graham Richardson in The Australian, yesterday:
Turnbull cannot survive ...