The head of the nation's peak Jewish body has phoned Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull alarmed that his newfound support for changes to the Racial Discrimination Act could lead to a switch in government policy.
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Peter Wertheim from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry contacted Mr Turnbull on Sunday after the Minister's appearance on Andrew Bolt's television program in which he declared support for milder changes to the act.
Mr Wertheim is a former lawyer who has won numerous racial vilification cases and strongly fought any changes.
Mr Wertheim says Mr Turnbull stressed the government's position, which is to leave the act unchanged, and "confirmed that he is not advocating that this issue be resurrected". This means Mr Turnbull's support for change is symbolic only, however as a cabinet minister he is bound by cabinet solidarity.
Mr Turnbull said on Sunday that he was "comfortable" with removing the words "insult" and "offend" in what is being seen as him extending an olive branch to the Liberal party's right wing, which ousted him from the leadership in 2009.
Mr Turnbull also criticised the government's handling of the reform, which led to the Coalition dumping its election pledge in 2014.
In opposition, Tony Abbott promised to repeal section 18c after Bolt was found to have breached the act in 2011 with a series of articles in which he claimed fair skinned Aborigines used their race for professional advantage.
But when in government, a proposed radical overhaul of the section shocked ethnic groups who said it went too far and in the face of this backlash, the Prime Minister scrapped his election promise. Mr Abbott said it was more important that the Muslim community got behind tough counter terror laws instead.
Family First Senator Bob Day has subsequently proposed a milder change to the act proposing to no longer make it illegal to "insult" or "offend" a person on the basis of race but still make it an offence to "humiliate" and "intimidate" someone.
The so-called Day amendment has the backing of up to half a dozen government senators who are willing to cross the floor in support of the bill. It is also being co-sponsored by Liberal senators Cory Bernardi and Dean Smith who say Mr Turnbull's support and the government's improved standing in the polls means the debate can be reopened.
