Multiculturalism is one of Australia’s greatest success stories but racial vilification is still a reality for too many people in our society. Attorney-General George Brandis has announced that he wants to strip away the provisions of Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act which protect against racially-motivated hate speech. He has said he will do this as soon as possible.

The Racial Discrimination Act has served Australia very well. It strikes the right balance between freedom of speech and protecting people from racial vilification. Stripping away these important protections signals to the community that racism is okay and paves the way for more racist hate speech and vilification of culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Groups such as the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Arab Council Australia and Chinese Australian Forum are all united in their call to protect the Racial Discrimination Act from these attacks.

I am a supporter of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. The Federal Government needs to rethink its plan to repeal that Act because it is important that we act against racial discrimination and vilification in all areas and that we support legislative arrangements to give weight to that in the courts. Will you join us?