Thanks - I'll look for the child abuse information later. The dates I gave aren't correct - the changes were made in 2005, although if I hunt around - I do remember some changes around 2000. This is a partial extract of a report and there are some links provided. I'll have to go back into the links later for the specific information regarding the precedents, but in the meantime......
Quote:Racial Hatred Act: To compare today’s racism to a decade ago I viewed the Commonwealth Racial Hatred Act 1995 and the new “revised” Racial Discrimination Act 2005 (RDA). The RDA 2005 was amended to include a new clause “3.4.7 Exemptions” which states:
Section 18D of the RDA provides for the following exemptions from the prohibition on racial hatred in 18C.
Section 18C does not render unlawful anything said or done reasonably and in good faith.
Simply, courts approach ‘reasonableness & good faith’ as separate issues of the exemption in 18D. So to decide if an act is done reasonably, reference will be made to the objective circumstances, whereas “good faith” requires a consideration of the intention of the respondent.
In laymen’s terms, the Racial Discrimination Act 2005 is now open to interpretation and not specific acts as itemised in the previous Racial Hatred Act 1995.
and
Quote:Federal Government’s Response to Racism 2005: “Fair Go Australia” approached government agencies and raised 2 crucial issues. The agencies indicated they receive only a fraction of the cases alleging racial discrimination and prejudice. The reasons given for this low rate of reporting is the formal methods needed to report an incident by making the complaint in writing, language difficulties, fear of government agencies, time delays involved in resolving the issue, individuals wishing to “forget” the incident and problems identifying the perpetrator.
Incitive Comments made by Government ministers and media 2006: In an interview conducted before the Cronulla race riot, but only published in February, John Howard accused Muslims of holding jihadist views and extreme opinions about women that were incompatible with Australian society. This, he said, was “not a problem that we have ever faced with other immigrant communities”, but was “unique to Muslims”. He also went on to describe the burqa as “confronting … and that is how most people feel”.
Liberal MP Dana Vale aired her views that whites in Australia were aborting themselves “almost out of existence” and that there was a real possibility of Australia “becoming a Muslim country”.
http://www.fairgo.netMedia Regulation and Vilification – Lawlink NSW
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/adb/ll_adb.nsf/vwFiles/Race%20for%20the%20Headlines%20-%20Chapter%204.pdf/$file/Race%20for%20the%20Headlines%20-%20Chapter%204.pdf
Racism – No Way (Racism and the Law)
http://www.racismnoway.com.au/library/legislation/index-Commonwe.html
New Internationalist 1985 – Employment survey
http://www.newint.org/issue145/facts.htm
European Network for Aboriginal Rights – employment survey
http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/31A4695523F0BB67CA25703B0080CCB2?opendocument
Parliamentary Library – Research paper
http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/pubs/rp/1997-98/98rp05.htm
University of NSW – research paper
http://www.bees.unsw.edu.au/school/staff/dunn/racismfindings.html
Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission - Resources
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/links/index.html
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