18C complainant ‘terrified to come back’ to Australia

The complainant in Bill Leak’s 18C case says the cartoon caused her “race hatred”.

Melissa Dinnison and her partner Karl Schatke. Picture: Instagram.

The young woman whose complaint about a Bill Leak cartoon in The Australian triggered an investigation under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act says she is “terrified” to return to Australia because of racism.

Melissa Dinnison, who until recently lived in Perth, made an online complaint to the Human Rights Commission in August claiming she had “experienced ­racial hatred” and been “discrim­inated against because of my race” as a result of the cartoon.

Attempts to contact Ms Dinnison have been unsuccessful. She is believed to be holidaying in Germany with boyfriend, Karl Schatke, a casual IT worker at Perth’s Curtin University who volunteered for the Greens during this year’s federal election campaign.

Her family and friends would not talk to The Weekend ­Australian, which has tried repeatedly over several weeks to contact Ms Dinnison.

In Facebook posts, she identified as “a light-skinned indigenous person”. Writing under the pseudonym Melissa Rose on August 30, she described the Leak cartoon as “disgusting”.

The cartoon depicted an indigenous police officer presenting a youth to his father in an outback setting and saying: “You’ll have to sit down and talk to your son about personal responsibility.” The father replies: “Yeah righto, what’s his name then?”

The cartoon’s critics have described Leak’s work as a racist and hateful smear of indigenous parents, but The Australian has defended the cartoon, arguing it is indisputable that serious child welfare issues in remote indigenous communities are often the result of absent or neglectful parents

Ms Dinnison said on Facebook she was also upset with media coverage of the racial tensions in the WA town of Kalgoorlie sparked by the death of 14-year-old Aboriginal boy Elijah Doughty in August. “A little boy has been (killed) and the media representation is focused on ‘racial tension’ not the murder itself,” she wrote.

“Look at what we have become. I am terrified to come back. Just keep telling yourself that there’s racism in our communities and everyone should get over it. Our babies are dying for your right to pretend this isn’t happening.”

Her friends have confirmed Ms Dinnison uses the name “Melissa Rose” on Facebook.

She posted on August 30: “Every time someone stops listening to how the indigenous community feels about something and starts giving their bias (sic) opinion on race relations in Australia, little bits of dignity and pride get lost. Soon you realise that years of blackface, and ‘boong’ and ‘abo’ and ‘centrelink cheat’ slurs have made you angry and empty and devoid of personhood.”

Ms Dinnison’s family home is in a semi-rural outer suburb of Perth. Set back from the road with a paddock in front, the modest house is undergoing repairs for storm damage on the roof. Small crosses along the drive mark the graves of family pets, and several dogs mill around. A sign on an inner perimeter gate is a reminder that vehicles will be checked for weapons and alcohol.

When The Weekend Australian visited the home seeking comment from Ms Dinnison, a man believed to be her father approached. Informed of the reason for the visit, he told the reporter to leave and said: “No comment, that’s all we’ve been told to say.”

Asked if Ms Dinnison would make a statement about her complaint, he said: “She’ll talk when she’s ready.” The Weekend Australian also asked a woman believed to be Ms Dinnison’s mother, Shiralee, if her daughter would discuss her complaint. She replied: “It’s a private thing.”

The couple declined to identify themselves. A neighbour confirmed the house’s occupants were Ms Dinnison’s parents.

Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs’s delegate Jodie Ball has written to The Australian’s lawyers to advise that Ms Dinnison’s allegations of racial hatred under the Racial Discrimination Act would be investigated.

The complaint states: “The Australian newspaper has published and endorsed a cartoon depicting racial discrimination, racial profiling, and racially ­offensive material.

“A series of cartoons illustrate hateful and derogatory material specifically relating to indigenous Australians, their relationships with their children, alcoholism and domestic violence.”

Ms Dinnison cites section 18C, which makes an act unlawful that “is reasonably likely, in all circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people; and the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person ... ”

The Human Rights Commission has advised The Australian that “sections 18C, 18D and 18E of the Racial Discrimination Act ­appear relevant to the complaint”.