John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Honestly, Senator Watt, I had never heard of it until it came forward in relation to your state of Queensland, with Mr Alex Wood and his fellow students at the Queensland University of Technology. What did they do? They went into a laboratory at the university. It is reported that the laboratory was for Indigenous people only. So they left and posted something on Facebook. The next thing was the courts. Ms Prior was suing these students for the sum of $250,000. Alex Wood has been hit for $41,000 in legal fees, four years after Ms Prior told him to leave an Indigenous-only computer lab because he was white. I find this quite amazing, and I am sure many Australians find it quite amazing as well. I thought computer laboratories were for all people—but apparently not. Regardless of where you are from or the colour of your skin, I think laboratories should be for all—and I think many Australians would agree with me.

The issue is these words 'insult or offend'. It is just crazy, because I cannot see why anyone would ever be insulted or offended when they are respected. In this world, in this life, you cannot demand respect; you have to earn respect. If people respect you, they will never insult you or offend you anyway. The legislation is so confusing, even for Ms Triggs, who does not have an understanding of it. The government is proposing to remove those words and replace them with the word 'harass'. So it is a case of whether you are being harassed because of your race—basically because of where your parents came from, what country you came from or what colour you are. I find this whole thing amazing. As I said, it is not a big issue in regional Australia with the people that I talk to. People do not stop me in the streets and say, 'Hey, you've got to fix 18C.' I welcome the government's change, because I just think those students being sued was just ridiculous. It would have put pressure on them going through the courts for such a long time. We know how the courts drag on and drag out matters. What those students have been through because they went into a laboratory is quite amazing. Let's hope the legislation proposed by the government—and I do welcome it—will, for a start, simplify it. Many of those involved in court cases over the wording of 18C do not understand the actual meaning of it, how it is supposed to work or how it is supposed to protect or whatever. It is confusing. As I said, Ms Triggs, from the Human Rights Commission, has even been confused about it.

Simplifying 18C is a good thing. We can all understand a simple law. The word 'harass' is not a watering down of the law. I just call that simplifying the law and making it better for Australians to understand. There are those who follow this issue. Many people email me and say, 'Wacka, we've got to fix this up; it's wrong.' And if it is wrong—and I believe it is wrong—it needs to be fixed up. As I said, it is not the biggest issue in rural Australia. Building some dams, building railway lines, growing more export markets and keeping good cattle prices continuing are issues—yes. Cattle prices are under a bit of pressure at the moment. They did get extremely high, and perhaps that was a bit of a worry in itself. These are the issues that regional Australians are concerned about. We have a good wool market, with record wool prices. It is good to see that after decades of devastating wool prices, following the crash back in the early nineties. Cattle prices are improving. I will say it again: those opposite banned the live exports to Indonesia—a crazy decision that had such a devastating effect on regional Australia. We saw cattle being transported by road from the top of Western Australia right down to Inverell, in the district I live in. How cruel it is to have to transport the stock so far because of the loss of the export markets. They are the real issues.

Let's hope that we can continue to grow those markets and grow our trade agreements. Former Minister Andrew Robb did a magnificent job setting up the free trade agreements, and now we are benefiting from those agreements with better prices for our commodities. Because of rural Australia, we saw growth in the last quarter for our agriculture exports. Things are exciting. I just hope the regions that are very dry at the moment do get some gentle rains, especially in Queensland, where once again they are looking to the skies for some relief. I commend the government for simplifying this whole law. (Time expired)