Senator David Leyonhjelm Has Lodged A Race Hate Complaint After Being Called An Angry White Male
"The comments are reasonably likely in all the circumstances to offend or insult some white males."
Liberal Democrats Senator and noted Caucasian David Leyonhjelm has lodged a pointed formal complaint with the Human Rights Commission under the divisive Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
Leyonhjelm, who splits his time between ardently defending the rights of people to say whatever they like, and throwing tantrums when people say whatever they like about him, made the complaint after Fairfax journalist Mark Kenny wrote that the NSW Senator was an “angry white male” – comments that we here at Junkee would never endorse, on account of us not wanting to get sued.
The Senator told The Daily Telegraph that he was not offended by the comments, but that “the comments are reasonably likely in all the circumstances to offend or insult some white males. My colour was one of the reasons the comments were made.”
Under Section 18C, it is unlawful to do or say anything that would reasonably “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” someone because of their “race, colour or national or ethnic origin.” You may remember it as the law that Andrew Bolt was found to have breached back in 2011 after he wrote that fair skinned Aboriginal people had chosen to identify as Indigenous in order to win prizes and get ahead in their careers. Classic Bolt.
The law has become a bit of a sticking point for conservatives, with a rogues gallery of politicians including Leyonhjelm, Corey Bernadi, Family First’s Bob Day and former PM Tony Abbott having all campaigned for its repeal. Interestingly, you’ll note that they’re all white guys, although that’s probably just a coincidence.
In addition to his landmark civil rights case, Leyonhjelm is also planning to introduce a bill that once again calls for 18C to be abolished. Seriously, he’s like a modern day Rosa Parks.
Earlier this week, the Western Australian Liberal Party called for the Federal Government to remove the words “offend” and “insult” from the act. They originally wanted to ditch the whole thing, but were talked down from their soapbox by Indigenous Coalition frontbencher Ken Wyatt, who argued that such a course of action could negatively impact broad sections of the Australian community.