Labor and Gillian Triggs at odds over reform to race-hate laws

Labor and Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs are at odds over reform to race-hate laws.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus with the Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten. Picture: Gary Ramage

Labor and Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs are at odds over reform to race-hate laws, as opposition frontbencher Mark Dreyfus declares a change backed by Professor Triggs would only “weaken” the law.

It comes as Malcolm Turnbull challenges Bill Shorten to back a new inquiry into free speech in a political stand-off over reforms to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, dismissing “lectures” from Labor over human rights by linking the issue to border protection.

While Professor Triggs said she believed 18C could be made stronger by replacing the words “offend” and “insult” with “vilify”, Mr Dreyfus, Labor’s legal affairs spokesman, said that would “in fact weaken the provision”.

Gillian Triggs.

Under 18C it is illegal to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” another person because of their race.

“We don’t need to change the current words and there’s been a lot of nonsense talked about the way in which the courts have looked at this section. It’s one test, not four, and taking out the words “insulting” and “offend” would in fact weaken this provision,” Mr Dreyfus told ABC radio.

“(Professor Triggs) is looking at strengthening the law and I don’t think that’s what this fringe group in the Liberal Party, the right wing of the Liberal Party, and a fringe group otherwise in Australian society called the Institute of Public Affairs, I don’t think that’s what they want to do. I think what they want to do is weaken the law and this inquiry is a fig leaf to allow weakening the law.”

But Professor Triggs said yesterday that substituting “offend” and “insult” with “vilify” would strengthen the law and insisted it could be “a very useful thing to do”.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said that showed the opposition leader was out of step in the debate over the law.

“It’s absurd now that Bill Shorten and the opposition are positioned on the Left of Gillian Triggs on this issue,” he said.

The Australia-Israel and Jewish Affairs Council has also noted concerns raised by a number of government MPs and commentators regarding the “effectiveness” of the Human Rights Commission’s process for conciliating complaints under section 18C.

It said this was “something that we agree may require further consideration and review”.

Professor Triggs is under renewed fire and facing a defamation ­action from Queensland University of Technology students who have accused her of making false and damaging statements implying they and their Facebook posts were racist.