It would be unwise to view this as anything but a brief respite during the Abbott Government’s determined march towards a totalitarian regime.
The Sydney Morning Herald 5 August 2014:
The Abbott government has backed down on controversial plans to water down the Racial Discrimination Act.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it was a ‘‘leadership call’’ to bin the proposed changes to Section 18C of the act, which had been roundly criticised by ethnic community leaders and was unpopular with the wider public.
"Leadership is about preserving national unity on the essentials and that is why I have taken this position," Mr Abbott said….
1 comment:
Although conflating the 18C repeal with the threat of terrorism is a political strategy to excuse the government from breaking its election promise it is welcome. The repeal of 18C would do nothing for freedom of speech but would have a huge impact on allowing race hatred to be legitimised. The fact that the governement has chosen to acknowledge that their proposed repeal of 18C would help divide the nation undermines its own argument that this was something that was in the best interest of the nation. The repeal of 18C had far more to do with keeping the Right end of town (particularly conservative media, think tanks and shock jocks) happy than with policy that is good for the country. This Governemt has absolutely no moral compass what-so-ever. I won't be surprised if this becomes the new focus of a fear campaign from the governement. They will have us looking under the bed for radicalised muslims/jihadists before you know it. Ironically this sort of manipulation of peoples fears is just what terrorists do to radicalise people to their cause.
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