Vilification, Discrimination & Defamation

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3946770.htm Panellists: George Brandis, Attorney-General and Minister for the Arts; Chris Bowen, Shadow Treasurer; Lisa Wilkinson, Journalist and television presenter; Marcia Langton, Professor of Indigenous Studies; and Sharri Markson, Media Editor, The Australian. -- George Brandis Senator George Brandis, the Attorney-General, has one of the most respected legal minds in the Federal Parliament. He studied law with distinction at the University of Queensland and at Oxford, and was called to the Queensland Bar in 1985 at the age of 28. He quickly established a large commercial practice concentrating on trade practices law. In 2006 he was appointed a Senior Counsel of the Queensland Supreme Court. George was born in Sydney in 1957, but grew up in Brisbane. He was politically engaged from an early age and became president of Queensland's Young Liberals in 1981. Through the 90s he was very active within the Liberal Party and entered the Senate in 2000. But he was not, despite his obvious abilities and qualifications, given a front bench position until 2007 when the coalition government was in its last year of office. He became Minister for the Arts and Sport. This lack of preferment was attributed to a mutual antipathy between himself and then Prime Minister John Howard, whom he once allegedly referred to as a 'lying rodent'. -- Chris Bowen Chris Bowen emerged from last year’s turmoil engulfing the Labor Party – including the leadership drama and the election loss – with his status as a senior Labor identity confirmed and enhanced. After Kevin Rudd’s victory over Julia Gillard for the leadership, in which he played a significant role agitating for change at the top, he was made Treasurer – the second most demanding job in politics. Following Labor’s defeat he held the fort as Acting Opposition Leader while the party ballot to elect a leader took place. Now he is shadow treasurer, a role that puts him at the forefront of the political contest. Since entering Parliament in 2004 as the member for Prospect (now McMahon after a redistribution) in the western suburbs of Sydney, Chris has risen rapidly through the ranks of the ALP. He became a minister after just three years as an MP and has held several senior portfolios, including Human Services and Immigration. Chris was born in the western suburbs in 1973 and attended local schools before going to the University of Sydney, where he gained a Bachelor of Economics degree. He joined the ALP at 15 and worked for State and federal politicians, and for the Finance Sector Union, before entering Parliament. He also spent many years on the Fairfield Council and was mayor at the age of 25. Chris is married to Bec and they have two children, Grace and Max. -- Lisa Wilkinson For more than two decades, Lisa Wilkinson has blazed a trail through the Australian media landscape, in publishing, radio and television. She's best known as co-presenter of the TODAY show- a position she's held since May 2007. Lisa’s media career began when she was appointed editor of Dolly magazine at the age of just 21. A young woman from the western suburbs of Sydney, Lisa tripled the magazine's circulation within four years and was head-hunted by the late Kerry Packer to take over the editorship of Cleo magazine. Over the next decade, Lisa guided the magazine to new circulation highs, making it the No.1 selling women’s magazine per capita in the world. Lisa runs her own magazine consultancy and is well known as a mentor to young women. Under her guidance and training, there are now 23 women and men around the world who have gone on to become successful magazine editors themselves. Lisa is married to journalist and former Wallaby and rugby international, Peter FitzSimons , and they have three children. Last year she was invited to give the Andrew Olle Lecture in honour of the late and respected ABC television host. She was the second only female journalist to do so in 16 years . -- Marcia Langton Professor Marcia Langton is one of Australia’s best-known Indigenous advocates and scholars. Born in Queensland in 1951 and a descendant of the Yiman people, she travelled widely overseas before returning to Australia to work with several organisations dealing with social and cultural issues and land claims. These included the Central Land Council and the Cape York Land Council. In the 1980s she studied anthropology at the Australian National University and became a full-time university researcher and teacher. She spent five years at Charles Darwin University in Darwin until 2000, when she moved to the University of Melbourne. There she holds the foundation chair in Australian Indigenous Studies. Marcia has been extensively published and has been involved in a vast range of Indigenous issues. She was a key member of the Indigenous team negotiating the historic Mabo legislation with the Keating government in the early 1990s. She would support a republic in principle, but believes there needs to be much more debate and discussion about the correct model before we change a constitution that, she believes, works fine the way it is. -- Sharri Markson Sharri Markson was recently appointed as media editor of The Australian newspaper. Sharri, who lives in Sydney, is a Walkley Award winning journalist. Before joining The Australian she was editor of the iconic women's magazine Cleo. Previously she worked at Channel Seven as news editor. Sharri started her career at The Sunday Telegraph, working as a journalist, political writer and then chief of staff. ---- Audience: ALP 36%, Coalition 48%, Greens 12% RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ACT Anna Egerton asked: Senator Brandis, the Abbott government have introduced legislation to repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which they have branded as 'censorship'. Do you really think that overtly racist remarks such as those of Andrew Bolt regarding 'light skinned Aborigines' are not only socially acceptable but necessary to political discourse in the 21st century? FOLLOW UP - RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ACT Anna Egerton also asked: Given that people in power like yourself, already have a public platform to express their opinions. Why is your right to make offensive comments more important than their right to be free from racial discrimination? QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: Senator Brandis, why do you think 18c is fine as it stands but 18d isn’t? WOMEN AND QUOTAS Glenn Radford asked: Liberal backbencher Sharman Stone has suggested that the party should introduce mandatory quotas to boost the number of women in Federal Parliament. What does the panel think of the quotas as a way to redress discrimination? Aren’t quotas a form of reverse discrimination against those in the majority who have been selected on merit? CORPORATE GENDER REPORTING Kathrin Bain asked: There has been some concern expressed over the government considering relaxing the gender reporting requirements that currently apply to companies with at least 100 employees. Is there any evidence to show that such reporting improves gender balance in the workforce? Would the average Australian even know that these reporting requirements exist, let alone where to access the information when it is reported? CHINESE BUYING AUSTRALIAN HOUSES Fraser Mangle asked via video: Why are Chinese investors allowed to buy up Australian property? This is inflating the price and is sentencing a whole generation to renting. Credit Suisse estimates that the Chinese are buying 18 per cent of all new homes in Sydney, and 14 per cent of all new homes in Melbourne. What benefit is this to Australians? INDIGENOUS QUALITY OF LIFE Preston Peachey asked: In 2001 Larissa Behrendt said “Over 35 years after the 1967 Constitutional Amendment, Indigenous people are still the most socioeconomically disadvantaged within Australian society and are still vulnerable to systemic discriminatory practices.” Is constitutional recognition of Indigenous people another gesture that offers no real benefit to approximately 2.5% of the national populace that are the most socioeconomically disadvantaged? How does constitutional recognition improve people’s quality of life? WHY RECOGNISE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE? Ray Casey asked: Why do politicians feel that Australians should recognize Indigenous people? Great tracts of land have been handed over to them. Why do the politicians feel guilty about these people, when we’re all Australians? CHRIS KENNY, TONY ABBOTT & CHASER Daryl Toohey asked via video: My question is for George Brandis. Given your government wants to unwind the anti-vilification laws, isn’t Tony Abbott a complete hypocrite for criticising the ABC’s Chaser program for defending itself against Chris Kenny? After all, isn’t this what the Abbott Government wants: American style, dog eat dog, freedom of speech laws and shouldn’t Chris Kenny just “man up”? Thank you.