Those of your who receive the Australian Christian Lobby newsletter will have been alerted this week that a new bill for legislative change will be introduced in the state parliament in 2024. The Bill for the “Elimination of Vilification”, was the brainchild of former state MP Fiona Patten – she lost her seat at the last state election. Ms Patten and her Reason Party has long held clearly anti-Christian and anti-Biblical views and has made no secret of her efforts to erode what she sees are special privileges churches enjoy.
This new bill has been in the offing for some time, and was clearly designed by Patten to replace the existing Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 introduced into law by the then Bracks’ government. In Victoria, this Act protects people from vilification because of their race and religion. Examples of which could include, posting a racist comment online that could make other people hate someone because of their race.
I was privileged back in 2000 to be part of the discussion and feedback group (along with other Christian and other faith leaders) that met with then Minister Assisting the Premier on Multicultural Affairs, John Pandazopoulos. Those sessions were important and the influence brought to bear by this group dialoguing with the Minister brought about important amendments to the proposed (and eventual) legislation. In particular, the tests for determining what was real vilification and how it was perceived by victims or perpetrated by alleged offenders were made less onerous and more difficult to apply – and this was about what was fair and reasonable, not about avoiding responsibility for wrong doing by people of faith.
In short, the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 became a much fairer piece of legislation than its originally proposed draconian form. Although, in the minds of many of us it still didn’t go far enough, but we made a real difference. Fast forward about nine years and the state parliament set up an inquiry to assess the “effectiveness of the operation” of the R&RT Act 2001. Specifically, the committee wanted to consider “any evidence of increasing vilification and hate conduct in Victoria” and consider the “possible extension of protections or expansion of protection to classes of people not currently protected under the existing Act”, and explore “any work underway to engage with social media and technology companies to protect Victorians from vilification.” Those were the basic parameters. All noble and good, right? Well, not really, in my view.
Genuine reviews, of course, are always valuable. But the committee of inquiry review clearly had the agenda of toughening up hate laws to cover more than race and religion – they clearly intended to include in their consideration Fiona Patten’s draft bill which, although having proceeded to a second reading in the upper house, did not have the numbers to pass and lapsed on November 1st 2022. In their media release in March this year when their report was tabled the committee said, “Victoria should extend its anti-vilification laws to cover a range of attributes not currently specified in legislation, a parliamentary committee has recommended. This should include attributes relating to gender identity and sexual orientation, disability and HIV status, in addition to race and religion already covered by current laws.” So, not just a review of the effectiveness of the current R&RT Act 2001, but the resurrection of Patten’s lapsed bill which is currently called the “Racial and Religious Tolerance Amendment Bill”. It’s hard not to think that the “inquiry” was just a smokescreen under the cover of which Patten’s draft bill could still become legislation.
And so, right on cue last week, according to the Attorney General, Fiona Patten’s bill will be introduced in the new year and will be aimed at “lowering the bar for what constitutes vilification” (ACL) and hate speech. The effect of it all will be that if someone feels offended or ridiculed by what someone else says, regardless of the fact that there is no malicious intent and regardless of whether a sincerely held belief was graciously expressed, or they even have a different view that somehow offends or construes contempt, that could constitute an indictable offense. Harm-based vilification will be the test and the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission or VCAT will decide whose feelings have been hurt and how. This was a key element that was successfully stripped out of the draft R&RT bill back in 2001. Now it’s back and squarely aimed at … guess who?
Back in 2000, faith leaders pushed back on Mr Pandazopoulos – a lovely man, I must say – and he graciously respected some of the core concerns we had, and made amendments. The outcome was much preferred to what would have occurred otherwise. The ACL is rallying people to get involved with the Department of Justice public consultation process – everyone can have a say. I urge everyone to do so while we can. A group of faith leaders were able to prayerfully make a difference back in 2000. Thousands of Christians and pastors can make a difference today – while we have today. But we all have to act.
Make no mistake; if we think it is all too hard, that there’s no point, and we’re outnumbered, and what could my little letter possibly achieve, and so on, we’ll be saddled with yet more draconian laws that will, this time, dramatically further erode free speech and religious freedoms in Victoria. That’s the goal of this proposed legislation. Legislated wokeism. Please pray against this misguided “reform”, it is just more social engineering.
I encourage you to access the Australian Christian Lobby website and find out how to make a response. There is an online briefing next Tuesday evening, and a link below with more information on how to contribute.
https://engage.vic.gov.au/anti-vilification
You can make a difference! Pray, and act.
Think on these things.
Ps Milton
[Sources: Victorian Parliament website; ACL letter; Engage Victoria; Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (Victoria)]