Australian Human Rights Commission
Submission to the UN Committee On The Elimination Of Racial Discrimination, 30 October 2017
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (9 December 2016). At
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights_inquiries/Freedom
speechAustralia/Submissions (viewed 23 October 2017). Also, in March 2017, a Fairfax-Ipsos poll of
1400 voters found that 78% of Australians believe it should be unlawful to offend, insult or humiliate
someone on the basis of their race or ethnicity. However, when the same question was asked in 2014,
88% of respondents said it should be unlawful to offend, insult or humiliate someone on the basis of
race. See Matthew Knott, ‘Fairfax-Ipsos poll: Eight in 10 voters oppose Turnbull government's 18C
race hate law changes’, The Sydney Morning Herald (online) 28 March 2017. At
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/fairfaxipsos-poll-eight-in-10-voters-opposeturnbull-governments-18c-race-hate-law-changes-20170327-gv7dlq.html (viewed 23 October 2017).
54 Australian Human Rights Commission, 2016–2017 Complaint Statistics (2017). At
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/commission-general/publications/annual-report-2016-2017
(viewed 26 October 2017).
55 Australian Government, ‘Australian Government’s Multicultural Statement’ (March 2017). At
https://www.dss.gov.au/settlement-and-multicultural-affairs/australian-governments-multiculturalstatement/australian-governments-multicultural-statement (viewed 30 October 2017).
56 Senate Select Committee on Strengthening Multiculturalism, Parliament of Australia, Ways of
protecting and strengthening Australia’s multiculturalism and social inclusion (2017) 80 [5.25]
(Recommendation 9). At
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Strengthening_Multiculturalism/M
ulticulturalism/Final_report (viewed 11 October 2017).
57 See, eg, Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia, Submission No 100 to Joint
Standing Committee on Migration, Migrant Settlement Outcomes, 19 February 2017, 2–3.
58 Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, Racial Tolerance Motion — Address to
Parliament (10 October 2016). At https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2016-10-10/racial-tolerance-motionaddress-parliament (viewed 30 October 2017).
59 Senate Select Committee on Strengthening Multiculturalism, Parliament of Australia, Ways of
protecting and strengthening Australia’s multiculturalism and social inclusion (2017) [5.38]
(Recommendation ). At
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Strengthening_Multiculturalism/M
ulticulturalism/Final_report (viewed 11 October 2017).
60 The proposed additional requirements include increasing residency requirements to four years
permanent residency; increasing the language requirements of the English language from ‘basic
knowledge’ to ‘competent English’; a new requirement that a person ‘has integrated into the Australian
community’, amongst others.
61 Groups include: children born in Australia to asylum seeker or refugee parents, even after those
children have been lawfully in Australia for up to 10 years; children born in Australia to parents who
had a valid visa but overstayed the visa before the child’s 10th birthday; children who are found
abandoned in Australia; children as young as 10 years old that the Minister considers are not of good
character; people with mental illness or cognitive impairment who come into contact with the criminal
justice system.
62 Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Parliament of Australia, Australian Citizenship
Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Requirements for Australian Citizenship and Other
Measures) Bill 2017 (5 September 2017) 46 [3.122]–[3.125]. At
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affair
s/CitizenshipBill2017/Report (viewed 11 October 2017).
63 Senate Select Committee on Strengthening Multiculturalism, Parliament of Australia, Ways of
protecting and strengthening Australia’s multiculturalism and social inclusion (2017) 31 [2.83]
(Recommendation 2). At
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Strengthening_Multiculturalism/M
ulticulturalism/Final_report (viewed 11 October 2017).
64 See Parliament of Australia, Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the
Requirements for Australian Citizenship and Other Measures) Bill 2017 (2017). At
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5
914 (viewed 20 October 2017).
65 Australian Government, Policy Consultation Paper — Visa Simplification: Transforming Australia’s
Visa System (15 September 2017) Department of Immigration and Border Protection. At
https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/visa-reform/policy-consultation-paper (viewed 10 October 2017).
66 Australian Human Rights Commission, Leading for Change: A blueprint for cultural diversity and
inclusive leadership (2016). At
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/2016_AHRC%20Leading%20
49