Proposed law change protects questionable pub jokes

16-06-2025

Telling a questionable joke at a pub will not land people before an anti-discrimination complaints hearing under a territory's proposed new laws.
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has defended the Northern Territory government's planned anti-discrimination laws to be introduced to parliament in July.
At an estimates hearing on Monday, she rejected accusations from shadow attorney-general Chansey Paech that the planned laws "watered down" protections for people offended by comments made about them.
Ms Boothby said her government was restoring "fairness and common sense" to laws that went too far when the previous Labor government revised them in 2022.
The proposed laws remove "vague" terms such as "offend" and "insult".
They will be replaced with clearer terms to prohibit conduct that "incites hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule" based on personal attributes such as race, sexuality, gender identity, religion and more.
"It's still a strong measure of anti-vilification, so we don't put up with that kind of behaviour," Ms Boothby said.
"Any kind of hate speech is not acceptable in our community."
The attorney-general said the new laws also restored protections for religious schools, allowing them to hire staff who upheld their faith while protecting against discrimination based on race, sexuality or gender.
Territorians wanted their freedom to enjoy the territory lifestyle, she said.
"It's not just having a joke at the pub that's going to land you in front of a hearing," Ms Boothby said.
"We want something that's more serious than that.
"We still want to be able to tell a joke. We still want to have freedom of speech debates."
It was a case of restoring balance and ensuring the law did not overreach into everyday conversations, religious freedoms, or basic rights to express an opinion, Ms Boothby said.
The government consulted religious and multicultural groups, sex workers, LGBTQI groups, the anti-discrimination commissioner and others on the new laws.
The proposed legislation was in line with changes made in other Australian jurisdictions, the attorney-general said.
The estimates hearing was told the office of the NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner had a budget cut for 2025/26 of $269,000 to $1.65 million.
Commissioner Jeswynn Yogaratnam told the hearing his office received up to 300 complaints a year but only had two complaints officers amid a large backlog of cases.
He said only three of 46 vilification complaints this financial year had been accepted in relation to race, religious belief, gender identity and disability.
Complaints were assessed as to whether they were trivial, vexatious or had no grounds, while those that proceeded were subject to a high-threshold objective standard of assessment, Mr Yogaratnam said.
"So things like your jokes at the pub would not amount to vilification in the context of the way in which we assess it.
"Clearly if that joke is one that incites hatred in relation to one of the 24 protected attributes like race, gender identity, disability, then that would be something we would need to consider."
Any other version of the NT's vilification provision "would be watering it down" because it was the strongest vilification law in Australia, he said.
Telling a questionable joke at a pub will not land people before an anti-discrimination complaints hearing under a territory's proposed new laws.
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has defended the Northern Territory government's planned anti-discrimination laws to be introduced to parliament in July.
At an estimates hearing on Monday, she rejected accusations from shadow attorney-general Chansey Paech that the planned laws "watered down" protections for people offended by comments made about them.
Ms Boothby said her government was restoring "fairness and common sense" to laws that went too far when the previous Labor government revised them in 2022.
The proposed laws remove "vague" terms such as "offend" and "insult".
They will be replaced with clearer terms to prohibit conduct that "incites hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule" based on personal attributes such as race, sexuality, gender identity, religion and more.
"It's still a strong measure of anti-vilification, so we don't put up with that kind of behaviour," Ms Boothby said.
"Any kind of hate speech is not acceptable in our community."
The attorney-general said the new laws also restored protections for religious schools, allowing them to hire staff who upheld their faith while protecting against discrimination based on race, sexuality or gender.
Territorians wanted their freedom to enjoy the territory lifestyle, she said.
"It's not just having a joke at the pub that's going to land you in front of a hearing," Ms Boothby said.
"We want something that's more serious than that.
"We still want to be able to tell a joke. We still want to have freedom of speech debates."
It was a case of restoring balance and ensuring the law did not overreach into everyday conversations, religious freedoms, or basic rights to express an opinion, Ms Boothby said.
The government consulted religious and multicultural groups, sex workers, LGBTQI groups, the anti-discrimination commissioner and others on the new laws.
The proposed legislation was in line with changes made in other Australian jurisdictions, the attorney-general said.
The estimates hearing was told the office of the NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner had a budget cut for 2025/26 of $269,000 to $1.65 million.
Commissioner Jeswynn Yogaratnam told the hearing his office received up to 300 complaints a year but only had two complaints officers amid a large backlog of cases.
He said only three of 46 vilification complaints this financial year had been accepted in relation to race, religious belief, gender identity and disability.
Complaints were assessed as to whether they were trivial, vexatious or had no grounds, while those that proceeded were subject to a high-threshold objective standard of assessment, Mr Yogaratnam said.
"So things like your jokes at the pub would not amount to vilification in the context of the way in which we assess it.
"Clearly if that joke is one that incites hatred in relation to one of the 24 protected attributes like race, gender identity, disability, then that would be something we would need to consider."
Any other version of the NT's vilification provision "would be watering it down" because it was the strongest vilification law in Australia, he said.
Telling a questionable joke at a pub will not land people before an anti-discrimination complaints hearing under a territory's proposed new laws.
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has defended the Northern Territory government's planned anti-discrimination laws to be introduced to parliament in July.
At an estimates hearing on Monday, she rejected accusations from shadow attorney-general Chansey Paech that the planned laws "watered down" protections for people offended by comments made about them.
Ms Boothby said her government was restoring "fairness and common sense" to laws that went too far when the previous Labor government revised them in 2022.
The proposed laws remove "vague" terms such as "offend" and "insult".
They will be replaced with clearer terms to prohibit conduct that "incites hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule" based on personal attributes such as race, sexuality, gender identity, religion and more.
"It's still a strong measure of anti-vilification, so we don't put up with that kind of behaviour," Ms Boothby said.
"Any kind of hate speech is not acceptable in our community."
The attorney-general said the new laws also restored protections for religious schools, allowing them to hire staff who upheld their faith while protecting against discrimination based on race, sexuality or gender.
Territorians wanted their freedom to enjoy the territory lifestyle, she said.
"It's not just having a joke at the pub that's going to land you in front of a hearing," Ms Boothby said.
"We want something that's more serious than that.
"We still want to be able to tell a joke. We still want to have freedom of speech debates."
It was a case of restoring balance and ensuring the law did not overreach into everyday conversations, religious freedoms, or basic rights to express an opinion, Ms Boothby said.
The government consulted religious and multicultural groups, sex workers, LGBTQI groups, the anti-discrimination commissioner and others on the new laws.
The proposed legislation was in line with changes made in other Australian jurisdictions, the attorney-general said.
The estimates hearing was told the office of the NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner had a budget cut for 2025/26 of $269,000 to $1.65 million.
Commissioner Jeswynn Yogaratnam told the hearing his office received up to 300 complaints a year but only had two complaints officers amid a large backlog of cases.
He said only three of 46 vilification complaints this financial year had been accepted in relation to race, religious belief, gender identity and disability.
Complaints were assessed as to whether they were trivial, vexatious or had no grounds, while those that proceeded were subject to a high-threshold objective standard of assessment, Mr Yogaratnam said.
"So things like your jokes at the pub would not amount to vilification in the context of the way in which we assess it.
"Clearly if that joke is one that incites hatred in relation to one of the 24 protected attributes like race, gender identity, disability, then that would be something we would need to consider."
Any other version of the NT's vilification provision "would be watering it down" because it was the strongest vilification law in Australia, he said.
Telling a questionable joke at a pub will not land people before an anti-discrimination complaints hearing under a territory's proposed new laws.
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has defended the Northern Territory government's planned anti-discrimination laws to be introduced to parliament in July.
At an estimates hearing on Monday, she rejected accusations from shadow attorney-general Chansey Paech that the planned laws "watered down" protections for people offended by comments made about them.
Ms Boothby said her government was restoring "fairness and common sense" to laws that went too far when the previous Labor government revised them in 2022.
The proposed laws remove "vague" terms such as "offend" and "insult".
They will be replaced with clearer terms to prohibit conduct that "incites hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule" based on personal attributes such as race, sexuality, gender identity, religion and more.
"It's still a strong measure of anti-vilification, so we don't put up with that kind of behaviour," Ms Boothby said.
"Any kind of hate speech is not acceptable in our community."
The attorney-general said the new laws also restored protections for religious schools, allowing them to hire staff who upheld their faith while protecting against discrimination based on race, sexuality or gender.
Territorians wanted their freedom to enjoy the territory lifestyle, she said.
"It's not just having a joke at the pub that's going to land you in front of a hearing," Ms Boothby said.
"We want something that's more serious than that.
"We still want to be able to tell a joke. We still want to have freedom of speech debates."
It was a case of restoring balance and ensuring the law did not overreach into everyday conversations, religious freedoms, or basic rights to express an opinion, Ms Boothby said.
The government consulted religious and multicultural groups, sex workers, LGBTQI groups, the anti-discrimination commissioner and others on the new laws.
The proposed legislation was in line with changes made in other Australian jurisdictions, the attorney-general said.
The estimates hearing was told the office of the NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner had a budget cut for 2025/26 of $269,000 to $1.65 million.
Commissioner Jeswynn Yogaratnam told the hearing his office received up to 300 complaints a year but only had two complaints officers amid a large backlog of cases.
He said only three of 46 vilification complaints this financial year had been accepted in relation to race, religious belief, gender identity and disability.
Complaints were assessed as to whether they were trivial, vexatious or had no grounds, while those that proceeded were subject to a high-threshold objective standard of assessment, Mr Yogaratnam said.
"So things like your jokes at the pub would not amount to vilification in the context of the way in which we assess it.
"Clearly if that joke is one that incites hatred in relation to one of the 24 protected attributes like race, gender identity, disability, then that would be something we would need to consider."
Any other version of the NT's vilification provision "would be watering it down" because it was the strongest vilification law in Australia, he said.

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Eye-watering cost to negotiate Victorian Indigenous treaty revealed amid government push to expand powers of state Voice

Sky News AU

13 minutes ago

Sky News AU

Eye-watering cost to negotiate Victorian Indigenous treaty revealed amid government push to expand powers of state Voice

The Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan Labor governments have invested almost $400 million on negotiating a treaty with Indigenous Australians, with experts warning the costs could continue to mount. The Victorian government's Yoorrook Justice truth telling inquiry handed down its final report in early July after four years of proceedings and claimed the state had been illegally occupied and that Victoria's First Peoples had been subjected to genocide. The commission also made 100 wide-ranging recommendations to the Victorian government including providing Indigenous Australians with tax relief, financial reparations and called on the state to finalise a treaty agreement. The treaty, which was previously in negotiation stages is now set to progress to parliament, with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and the state's First People's Assembly confirming that legislation to pass the agreement would be tabled after the winter break. However, a fresh investigation into Victorian government budget papers found that the former Andrews government and the current Allan government had spent a total of $382 million on treaty deliberations alone over the past ten years. The bulk of the hefty sum was spent establishing the Treaty Authority, which has been touted as an 'independent umpire' that adjudicates negotiations. Members of the Treaty Authority tasked with deliberating with First Nations elders and community leaders were raking in salaries as high as $388,000 per year according to The Herald Sun. It is believed the state government also spent significant amounts of cash in aiding Indigenous group to prepare for briefings and presentations to official forums. A Victorian government spokesperson refused to verify the Herald Sun's $382 million figure but reiterated that $308 million had been poured into treaty discussions since the 2020-2021 state budget. Analysis by the Institute of Public Affairs revealed that the near $400 million sum was in fact a conservative estimate, and that between July 2016 and June 2025 727 meetings had been held between the state government and Indigenous groups to get a treaty agreement off the ground. The think tank stated that if the current trajectory held the callosal number of meetings would climb to 968 by June 2026. This comes to an average of 100 meetings per year since July 2016, or a meeting being held every two to three business days. The IPA's investigation into Victoria's budget documents futher uncovered that the Andrews-Allan Labor governments combined spending into Indigenous related initiatives, including treaty, truth-telling and state Voice measures equated to $776 million over the past decade. The IPA's Research Fellow Margaret Chambers said the Allan government needed to be transparent with the Victorian people and release a detailed summary of spending on Indigenous related policies. Ms Chambers also pressed the government to reveal its treaty plans and slammed Premier Allan for dividing the Victorian people. 'The Victorian government is not being honest and upfront with Victorians about its plan to divide the community on racial grounds,' Ms Chambers told the Herald Sun. 'With a Treaty scheduled to be finalised inside the next 12 months, and despite the volume of secret meetings over the past decade, very little is known about what this treaty will entail. 'Any Treaty will fundamentally change Victoria's legal structure and will likely require already financially stretched Victorian taxpayers to pay billions of dollars to activists aligned to the Allan government.' A joint statement released by the government the states First People's Assembly in early July stated the draft Treaty has been settled behind closed doors after a lengthy consultation phase and that Victoria's First People's Assembly would be made permanent. The state is also negotiating separate Treaties with local Indigenous communities.