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gresswoman llhan Omar, a Muslim, Australia's Prime Minister in 1991,
Somali, hijab-wearing and outspoken Paul Keating, stated,
member of the House of Representa-
tives. Orientalism and mischaracteri- ...the "fir{t loyalty of all Au{lral-
ians mu{l be to Au{lralia, that they
zation of ideas such as Sharia, Mus-
Iims beliefs, and Muslims in general mu{l accept the basic principles of
no doubt contribute to this level of Au{tralian socie|. These include
hostility largely based on religion and
religious identity. the Con{titution and the rule of law,
parliamentary democracy, freedom
Other Western liberal de- of speech and religion, English as
mocracies, however, do not take the a national language, equality of the
same view with regards to the protec- sexes and tolerance.Q)
tion of hate speech. The next section
will consider Australia's treatment of So what does tolerance mean in
the realms of freedom of speech and
the concept. freedom of religion in the Australian
Australia context?
After the entering into force of the Australia has a slightly different
Convention on the Elimination of Ra- tradition to the United States with
regards to striking the balance be-
cial Discrimination (CERD) in 1975 tween freedom of expression and
and the passing the Racial Discrimi- religion, social cohesion and toler-
ance. Section 18C (t) (a) of the Racial
nation Act in that same year, the
Australian lnstitute of Multicultural Discrimination Act 1975, which is
Affairs (AIMA) was subsequently
administered by the Australian Hu-
established by legislation as an inde-
man Rights Commission, outlaws any
pendent statutory authority in 1979.
The objectives of the institute includ- act in public if it is reasonably Iikely
ed "the development of an awareness to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimi-
of cultural diversity, the promotion of date" a person of a certain race, color
tolerance, understandin& justice and or national or ethnic origin. An 'act'
eq uity in theAustralian com m un ity."tt) can also include words (Section 18C
(Z) (a)). However, they are not treat-
1 - Sev Oz dows ki,' Aus tralian Multiculturalism. ed as criminal offenses and are rather
The Roots of Its Success," PrzmntingChanges
in Times of Transition and Crisis: Reflections on Akademicka. Retieued from: Httpt/ /wwu
Human Nghts Education. Krakow: I{siegarnia
Akademicka. Pl, 201,3, 1,2.
2- Quoted in: Ozdowski, 14. (emphasis
added)
Freedom of Retigion, Limits on Hate Speech, and Promoting Toterance: A Comparative Study
