It is an incredible case, along with the nonsense thrown at Bill Leak.  Anyone against these reforms has clearly not seen the potential for ruining people's lives purely because somebody is offended. 

Nah the hysteria started well before either of those things happened.  

Yes, the one that gets me is the 3 QUT students that got done over over something that was ridiculous. they all ended up winning their cases but the mud sticks like a dirty stain upon their reputations. they would find it hard to get a job, and one was studying to be a Teacher. They can forget that now. 

And, all of them ended up with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of legal bills even before they started working or their lives. 

You can be against these reforms without being against reform. 

Of course it would start, because the argument is that the law is too subjective. In other words, cases can be initiated almost out of nothing and that has proven to be the case in practice. 

The idea is to try and fix an issue before people's lives are destroyed over nothing. 

How would you set it up then?  The way the Liberals are changing it seems very reasonable to me and i am certainly no fan of the party.

As mentioned earlier, give the HRC more power to throw out spurious claims before they get to court. The law has plenty of protections for people who make offensive claims that are genuinely held beliefs and done in good faith which is part of the reason why the QUT case was thrown out and the Bill Leak one would have been (News Corp were purposely behaving in a way to ensure it made it to court to make a point). 

Heaps of laws have clauses about what "a reasonable person" would do. It's nothing unusual.

Anyway the 18C discussion has been done to death, the LNP announcing it on Harmony Day is a master troll move which I'm sure plenty of people are proud about and it almost certainly won't pass the senate.

I don't know about that. I am pretty sure it will pass myself with Hinch, Hanson, and even Xenophon will also pass it after he gets the publicity from being and obstructionist populist and with some horse trade. 

Why are you against it anyway? The reforms or changes to 18C are completely reasonable. The current wording makes it all too easy for another QUT case.

Imagine anyone just saying anything deemed to be offensive on Facebook etc. It's very dangerous. 

I don't even believe harmony day was a factor at all. 

I don't believe the HRC can be trusted for the impartiality. 

Much better to quantify the language and terms within 18C so that independent Laywers can define and quantify the jargon. 

Nvm

I doubt anyone in parliament has heard of harmony day, let alone would announce important legislation to coincide with it.  

Ive never heard of harmony day.  The idea that the liberals would conspire to shoot down the great existential threat to society that is harmony day by modifying 18C is a little far fetched.  Besides every single day there's a special day for the left to get their fix of warm fuzzies by celebrating some minority, so the chances of the government doing something on any particular day is likely to offend the left in some way.

That is completely plausible, politicians not knowing about it is completely implausible. Harmony Day is organised by a government agency FFS. And though lots of organisations do try and promote their causes by making up days, this is obviously a bit different.

Meanwhile, The Nanny Republic of Australia continues its favourite pastime of banning shit, with the funniest part being Senator Leyonhjelm providing the only voice of reason on the issue:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/australian-online-poker-players-fear-major-sites-will-disappear-with-crackdown-on-offshore-gambling-websites/news-story/a1ec69aaa179f0fd13d3cce7716f07d2

Before cases even get to court they can seriously mess up a persons life.

The QUT case cost the defendants half a million if I recall correctly and ruined their studies while the case dragged out over years.

The law will never be applied equally. In its existing form is basically a white censorship law.

Vertually true! There is a Virtue Signalling day on nearly every single or other day these days. It's just out of control. 

What I don't like is how they expose little grade 1 students to political concepts such as Mem Fox's "I am Australian Too". The last slide was some kids incarcerated in manus island saying "they are Australian too".

it's really weird stuff. very political. Appalling. 

Obviously I meant before lawyers need to be excessively involved. Some of these cases can be nipped in the bud.

Even if the HRC send you a letter, you would need a Lawyer to reply. hence huge legal bills. That is a horrendous amount of bullying and intimidating power that they have. You would have to be crazy not to reply through a lawyer. 

That is what happened with the QUT. It was the HRC that was bombarding the QUT students with letters. 

In addition, the HRC is biased and politically motivated. You can imagine them when taking on a Bolt, or a Leak, or a Lyonjelm or something like that. Or imagine them taking on Hanson.

It's the Lawyers that would nip it in the bud provided their is a clear law. But if it is subjective, then it can't be nipped in the bud at all by anyone because the law is based on personal interpretation and is subjective. 

What you want is a clear law to be interpreted by lawyers and no one else. 

Excessively involved? It's still a cost (like $350/hr or thereabouts) for legal advice on a complete joke of an issue.

No one should lose $350/hr because someone else has delicate feelings or is triggered.....

Article about 18C today, with the journalist complaining that she had a claim brought against her because she wrote the following about the British :

"Australia inherited the world's worst cuisine, worst urban planning, worst teeth and worst skin tone. Someone did a poo in the Anglo Saxon gene pool"

Try publish THAT about any culture other than the British without getting your ass sued off.

The Brave New World is clear. All cultures are equal, but some are more equal than others and liberals will decide which ones for you.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-real-problem-with-18c-is-the-fragile-white-people-who-abuse-it-20170327-gv786p.html

At least Andrew Bolt could point to statistical evidence of indigenous self-identification increasing in line with government handouts to support his assertions.

people will just stop commenting at all.

there IS racism in Australia. Lots of it too. 

But Government refuses to address it. 

It's the racism every person feels when they apply for a job with a long long name. look at the statistics. its actually horrific. There is actually gender inequality too. And it's worse if you're Muslim or Aboriginal. 

This 18C doesn't solve that. There are literally posts on this forum which go against 18C every single day. Every day! I can provide many examples. People on this forum and the forum itself is actually vulnerable to 18C. 

Whelp, your minds made up. No point dragging it on.

You guys really are incredible. I can barely comprehend the mental gymnastics involved to get that opinion out of that article. I'm sincere in saying I'm genuinely impressed.

Canberra class in dock for repairs, here comes the latest military fuck up - collins class, hobart class, aerial refueling planes, awacs, super seasprites, adelaide class, fuck knows what else.

Oh Jules please you're better than this.

That 18C debate is getting pretty low if you ask me - and ideologically driven to score political points.

This is the kind of stuff that disillusions people away from politics and into the arms of the Trumps and Hansons. That's because the politicians are not listening to the people.

18C really isn't a big issue of concern for most people. The law however is flawed in that it failed to protect innocent people from its reach. that's because the terminology is far too subjective and open to personal interpretation. 

That's why it needs changing. It's not a watering down as it will still offer protections. 

Mark Latham sacked from Sky News for being a bit of a so and so... (18C edit). 

I still don't get why they're wasting so much time on it. They were elected to "fix the economy/budget" yet they've done fuck all since Mal took over.

-PB

David has been the voice of reason on many things as of late but he is too quickly painted with the brush of most minor parties i.e. loony, whacko, Hanson-esque.

-PB