Social cohesion has deteriorated since the government put counter-terrorism on the political agenda, and Muslim Australians are bearing the brunt of it, the race discrimination commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, has said.
The commissioner spoke at the National Press Club on Tuesday, where he gave an impassioned defence of the Racial Discrimination Act.
He said some members of the community were being “emboldened to express their extremist views” since the government increased the terror alert to high, and Tony Abbott coined the phrase Team Australia.
“The communities that I speak to regularly, including those from Muslim and Arab backgrounds, certainly say to me that the situation has worsened,” Soutphommasane said. “The mood appears to have deteriorated. I have always been firmly of the view that we are best placed to combat any threat to our national security through national unity, not through division.”
“I hold serious concerns about a deterioration of community harmony; a deterioration that warrants close attention from governments and leaders,” he said.
He argued leadership was “paramount” in building cohesion and harmony.
“It’s very important that political leadership consider the language it uses. We certainly don’t want to see groups in our society feeling as though they are being unfairly targeted or being made the subjects of undue suspicion,” the commissioner said. “They [community groups] have said to me that they believe the language of Team Australia may not always be helpful in cultivating social cohesion and community harmony.”
Soutphommasane acknowledged that discussions on deradicalisation and counter-terrorism should be open and frank, but said politicians had a role in framing how it plays out.
“I’d hope that those debates can be conducted in a sober, deliberative manner, based on facts, and involving political leaders who can bring the temperature down sometimes,” he said. “I believe patriotic citizenship must leave room for debate and disagreement. There must be room for robust expressions of opinion. Because there will be times when patriotism citizenship demands we be critical of our country or of our government.”
He took aim at legislation that would revoke the Australian citizenship of dual nationals, saying it should be applied only in “exceptional” circumstances and even then, only if the individuals involved had been convicted through the court system.
“It should not be done through the exercise of a power held by a minister,” he said.
The internet has become the new battleground for extremism, with people using the platform to brazenly express racist and intolerant views, Soutphommasane argued.
The commissioner said most Australians backed multiculturalism, as shown in the public outcry over now-overturned plans to water down the Racial Discrimination Act.
“Supporting the rights of bigots is a fringe minority cause rejected by the overwhelming majority of Australians,” he said, referring to statements made by the attorney general, George Brandis, that “people do have a right to be bigots”.
“Repealing section 18C [of the Racial Discrimination Act] would have sent a very dangerous signal. It would have given licence to prejudice and bigotry, to the idea that you can vilify others without any consequences, that you can have freedom without responsibility,” he said.
The Coalition in August 2014 dumped plans to change the act by removing the offence of offending, insulting or humiliating someone on the basis of race.
“I don’t want to do anything that puts our national unity at risk at this time so those proposals are now off the table,” Abbott said at the time.
Several backbench MPs, including the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the House of Representatives, Ken Wyatt, expressed concerns over the changes.
The attorney general caused a stir in March 2014 by telling the Senate during question time that people “have a right to be bigots”.
“In this country people have rights to say things that other people find offensive or bigoted,” he said.