Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Anti-vilification legislation

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:52): (399) My adjournment matter this evening is for the attention of the Attorney-General and is related to the consultation process for proposed changes to anti-vilification laws. I am going to do something this evening that is perhaps a little bit unique for me and talk about the proud history of the Victorian labour movement from the early 20th century on the matter of free speech. The right to free speech is absolutely critical to a free society. With this right adequately protected all other freedoms can be won. It is probably why the famous slavery abolitionist Frederick Douglass described it as ‘death to tyrants’.

I recently ventured out of my electorate into Brunswick to visit the only monuments to free speech I am aware of in Victoria. In the early 1930s workers and the unemployed were on the streets in a battle for their right to free speech. The public square really was the public square, not like Twitter and things these days. Police had been breaking up public meetings and sometimes quite violently. There was an artist named Noel Counihan who was selected to protest for free speech rights by climbing into a large steel cage that he would be bolted into so that he could speak without being arrested. There is a monument outside the Brunswick Mechanics Institute on the corner of Sydney Road and Glenlyon Road to this brave protest in defence of free expression. Just down the street, outside Jewell station, is a monument to James Jewell and his passion for free speech. Outside the station on the Sydney Road side, just off the walking path, is a quote from Mr Jewell that says:

I will go to gaol in defense of freedom of speech.

Mr Jewell was a member of this Parliament’s Legislative Assembly for 39 years and was widely respected. In relation to the free speech battles of Brunswick and elsewhere he stated:

It does not matter to me whether the men are Communists, Nationalists, or followers of Labour. I believe that every man, so long as he behaves himself, has the right to put his political views before the people.

If only the current members of the Labor Party shared the passion of their predecessors. Attacks on free speech are neither recent phenomena nor isolated to Victoria or Australia. A couple of years ago the Scottish Parliament debated their hate crime and public order bill. Its structure was very similar to proposals for reform to anti-vilification laws being considered in Victoria at the moment. When submissions were sought at the initial stages, many organisations wrote thoughtful submissions, and a large number came from individuals. Consultation is currently open on the engage.vic.gov.au website for proposed anti-vilification laws. My request for the Attorney-General is to join me in promoting the Engage website for the proposed bill to ensure that a wide range of views are taken into account.