Hume council has vowed to protect its multicultural community against racism.
At last week’s council meeting, councillors carried a motion raised by deputy mayor Adem Atmaca to send a letter to federal Attorney-General George Brandis opposing changes to the Racial Discrimination Act.
Cr Atmaca said it was important for Hume council to protect its largely multicultural community by opposing changes to the act.
“It’s up to us to make sure there are laws in place to protect our community,” he said.
The Abbott government released draft legislation of changes to key parts of the act earlier this year, including a repeal to section 18c, which currently makes it illegal to publicly “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people” due to their race, colour or national or ethnic origin.
Cr Atmaca said the amendments to section 18c would allow people to be bigots and race haters.
Hume mayor Casey Nunn said she was very supportive of the motion.
“We would be strongly opposed to any changes to federal law that could allow our residents to be abused on the basis of race, religion or nationality,” she said.
“The federal government needs to be very careful in amending this act, as it could have detrimental affects on our community.”
