‘White lawyers’ behind complaint

The Aboriginal man whose name is on a racial hate complaint said two white people gave him a statement to sign.

Section 18C complainant Kevin Gunn in Fitzroy Crossing yesterday. Picture: Steven Carter

A retired Aboriginal country music performer whose name ­appears on a racial hatred complaint to the Human Rights Commission that seeks compensation, ongoing censorship and apologies from cartoonist Bill Leak said two white people came to his home and gave him a statement to sign.

Kevin Gunn said he did not know the names of the man and woman who last week came to the Fitzroy Crossing home he shared with cousin Bruce Till in remote Western Australia and showed him Leak’s confronting cartoon on parental responsibility and asked him to sign the statement.

A complaint on behalf of Mr Gunn and Mr Till was lodged by the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia, triggering ­another taxpayer-funded probe into Leak’s art and The Australian. They are relying on the Racial Discrimination Act’s section 18C, which makes it unlawful to say anything reasonably likely “to ­offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people” because of race, colour or national or ethnic origin.

“Bruce showed me the cartoon in the house about three months ago,” Mr Gunn said. “Then Legal Aid or someone came here … a very young girl and an older man. I just voiced my opinion and they put my name down.”

He said the man and the woman, whom he described as non-Aboriginal and probably lawyers, were at the house with Mr Till about a week ago when he came home. He said they asked him what he thought of the cartoon, and he told them he did not like it.

The Leak cartoon.

“They asked me to fill in a form and I just signed it, Bruce and I did that,” he said. “They were asking questions and writing down ­answers. They both took down our statements.”

Mr Gunn said he was unaware that the complaint he lodged sought financial compensation.

“That’s news to me. I didn’t know that,” he said. “I didn’t want money, I just want to say what I want to say.” The father of five said the cartoon made him feel that Australians were laughing at Aborigines. “I had a white father and an Aboriginal mother so I see the world from both sides,” he said. “To me, the cartoon was upsetting, you know.”

Mr Gunn has had a long career as a country music performer around Australia and has in recent years lived in the coastal town of Kununurra. This year, he moved to the Kurnangki community in Fitzroy Crossing, a four-hour drive from the regional centre of Broome.

The state director of liquor licensing banned the sale of full-strength takeaway alcohol there in October 2007 after sustained lobbying by indigenous women June Oscar and Maureen and Emily Carter. They brought national attention to alcohol-fuelled violence, a spate of suicides and a culture of excessive drinking that created one of the world’s highest rates of fetal alcohol syndrome in children.

Bill Leak’s cartoon today.

Paul Gazia, a solicitor in the civil and human rights unit of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia, which gets $14.5 million a year in federal funding, told the commission Mr Till and Mr Gunn “experienced racial hatred” when they “viewed offensive material”. Their complaint states they want compensation for the hurt they allege they have suffered.

Asked by the commission what had happened, Mr Gazia stated that Nationwide News Pty Ltd had “published a cartoon by (Leak) in The Australian newspaper on or about 4 August depicting Aboriginal men as drunk and non-caring fathers”.

“The complainant saw the cartoon and was offended on grounds of racial hatred,” he said.

Asked how it might be resolved, he said: “A public apology, compensation and a guarantee from (The Australian and Leak) they will not publish material such as the cartoon or any other material that could cause offence under the ground of racial hatred in the future.”

Mr Gazia confirmed neither he nor Mr Gunn and Mr Till had lodged complaints with any other organisation such as a state anti-discrimination or equal opportunity agency, a worker’s compensation agency, an ombudsman or the Fair Work Commission. The two October 31 complaints will join the ongoing inquiry, overseen by commission president Gillian Triggs, into a complaint from Perth woman Melissa Dinnison, which was dated August 4 but not disclosed by the rights body to the newspaper for two months.

Professor Triggs has delegated a senior manager at the commission, Jodie Ball, to ask The Australian and Leak to provide information and responses to the Aboriginal men’s complaints by November 25. Ms Ball, in her letter to The Australian, said: “Please comment on Mr Gunn’s claims that Mr Leak’s cartoon and The Australian’s publishing of (it) … constitute racial hatred under the terms of 18C of the RDA.’’

An identical letter from Ms Ball refers to the complaint made on behalf of Mr Till.

The HRC has told The Australian’s lawyers the alleged unlawful discrimination cases involving Leak should not be reported or publicly ventilated during an inquiry and conciliation process.

The Australian’s editor-in-chief, Paul Whittaker, rejected the request for confidentiality and pledged that every relevant detail would be reported as it was vital to “shine a bright light on a law that stifles debate, divides people and is open to abuse’’.

Whittaker said yesterday the newspaper was considering its legal options and would be responding robustly to the commission over the latest complaints. He said the media should never be forced to apologise, pay compensation or self-censor for leading an open, public-interest exchange of ideas through free speech and artistic expression, and called on Malcolm Turnbull to reconsider his position that free speech is not a current “priority” for the government.

The Prime Minister yesterday gave a strong indication he would support a parliamentary inquiry into issues relating to freedom of speech and section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

The Australian and Leak have been given until November 16, in relation to Miss Dinnison’s complaint, for a “written submission from Mr Leak covering these points”, which he has previously made: that he was not motivated by race, colour or national ethnic origin; the cartoon was created “in good faith” and for “a genuine purpose in the public interest”; and his views regarding these issues are “genuine” and in “good faith”.

Indigenous leaders and intellectuals — including Warren Mundine, Kerryn Pholi, Anthony Dillon, Noel Pearson and Stan Grant — have either supported the cartoon or Leak’s fundamental right to free speech. Leak has been condemned by others who accuse him of promoting a racist stereotype of indigenous men as being drunk and indifferent to the wellbeing of their children.

About 200 media and communications professionals have signed a letter in opposition to Leak’s cartoon, including academics Margaret Simons and Jenna Price, New Matilda contributor Wendy Bacon, writer Catherine Deveny and former independent MP Rob Oakeshott.

The Aboriginal Legal Service refused to respond to repeated requests when asked to explain how the complaint came about.