Hedley Thomas's column in the Australian today highlighted the plight of Kyran Findlater one of those snared in the QUT net. For me, it was alarming in the extreme. If you haven't read Hedley Thomas's column please do. Because if ever there were justification for amending 18C and removing the AHRC I believe this is it.
There was one comment to this story that I think is worthy of sharing. I have the permission of the writer to share it.
Dear Kyran
I hope you get to read the comments. I have moved from being appalled to saddened with the way you have been treated. In the ordinary course of things, I think it is irrelevant for me to state my ethnicity in any debate because it doesn't inform the substance of my argument. I will make an exception on this occasion and tell you that I am black and of South African origin. I state this with the hope that someone in govt will read and see that the very people of my skin colour they are seeking to protect are unambiguously appalled. I have lived in Australia for 5 years and there's never been a day I have ever felt conscious of my ethnicity because ordinary Australians are the most welcoming people. I cannot stay silent when a fellow citizen like you has his reputation impugned for daring to speak his mind. I shed a tear when I read that you offered to pay $3500 in what can only be described as a ransom payment. This is wrong on many levels and I hope that in speaking out Australians see that we are all united in demanding an end to 18C.
The law has encouraged a culture of victim hood in ways I presume it never intended. What I find offensive about 18C is that it is based on a racist presumption that people like me cannot handle robust debate and need to be protected from offence and insult. By default we are cast as a class of citizens to which the law is prepared to grant rights not accorded to the majority simply because of our ethnicity. My place in society is not strengthened by depriving you of your fundamental rights. You and I have never met and probably never will but the law as it stands pits us against each other simply because we look different. Yet, when I became a citizen I pledged to fight alongside with you should Australia be attacked militarily. By extension I believe I have to stand and fight with you when our shared Australian values are attacked in my name. It is contrary to good conscience for someone like me to whom Australia has given a lot to turn a blind eye whilst you are stripped of your dignity, reputation and adorned in a cloak of criminality.
I will do what I can to fight the good fight so that you and I are reconciled by laws that treat us equally. The injustice you've suffered is an injustice to me as well and to be honest it has really hurt me emotionally. I will do everything I can to fight for changes to the law. I hope one day you and I can meet and share a beer (non-alcohol beverage for me).
Regards to you and your entire family.
Andrew M
I don't mind admitting I found this response extremely moving. Like Andrew, I shed a tear over what he wrote. How lucky we are to have people like Andrew call Australia home.
