The Northern Territory government will reverse controversial anti-discrimination laws, saying residents should not have their speech policed by bureaucrats.
The Country Liberal Party confirmed it is planning to scrap two key elements of the laws, which were brought in by the previous Labor government in 2022.
The changes will repeal a section making it unlawful to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” on the basis of a personal characteristic such as race or gender, and restore the right of religious schools to refuse to hire people who don’t share their faith.
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said the changes would be passed through parliament later this year.
“Before the election, we promised we would restore the freedom of speech and religion Labor’s Anti-Discrimination Bill destroyed,” she said.
“We are not repealing the law in full – our changes will … restore religious freedoms to religious schools so they can hire and accept persons of the same religion.
“[They will also] remove the vilification provision introduced by Labor that prohibits behaviour that could offend. We believe Territorians should not have their speech policed or be attacked for telling a joke by a bureaucratic agency.”
Violations of the current vilification laws are dealt with by territory government agency the NT Anti-Discrimination Commission.
Agency head Jeswynn Yogaratnam told ABC News he opposed the law reversal and said it was “opening the doors for a very dangerous stream of hate speech”.
“In this time where we are dealing with a lot of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia … there is a need to have provisions like that to protect our community,” the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner said.
“Some of those comments that have impacts regarding their race, their sexual orientation, even their religion, [create] a deep, deep sense that they do not belong. And that is not a joke.”
But religious leaders, including Bishop of Darwin Charles Gauci, welcomed the move.
“We certainly believe we should have rights for our schools to be able to teach according to our faith beliefs,” he said.
“And for ministers to be able to preach, respectfully of course, about what we truly believe. I want to be emphatic in saying it’s not about discriminating – it’s about rights.”
The reversal comes after the federal government brought in new hate crimes laws that expand bans on incitement of violence, the NSW government passed new “hate speech” laws, and Victoria proposed expanded anti-vilification legislation.
Header image: Parliament House, Darwin (By Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link)
