Saturday, 19th October, 2024: Sean Mulcahy, Co-Ordinator Vic Pride Lobby, Anti-vilification Reformed Update

Saturday Magazine

Macca and Madeleine are joined live on air by Sean Mulcahy, Co-Ordinator Vic Pride Lobby, as they discuss, speaking about transphobic abuse

The Victorian Government intends to introduce changes to the law that will better protect Victorians from vilification and improve how the law operates.

Vilification is more commonly known as hate speech, but could also be a broader range of acts or behaviour. Vilification undermines Victoria’s social cohesion as a multicultural and inclusive society. The harm caused can be profound, affecting people’s physical and psychological wellbeing, as well as whole communities’ ability to participate in daily life.

The major problem with the existing Victorian law is that it requires proof that the conduct in question incited hatred against the victim. This means that a court has to look into whether a hypothetical third party was incited to hate.

One of the report’s proposals is an alternative test that focuses not on incitement but on the harm caused to the victim. This would give victims an alternative route to prove that vilification has occurred whilst retaining a high bar for restricting freedom of expression by ensuring that the harm done was reasonably foreseeable.

In this way, it fairly balances the right to freedom of expression with the right to freedom from vilification. It’s a reform that has been sought by LGBTIQA+ advocates for over 15 years.

The report also recommends expanding the protected attributes of race and religion to include gender or sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, sex characteristics or intersex status, and HIV/AIDS status.

The post Saturday, 19th October, 2024: Sean Mulcahy, Co-Ordinator Vic Pride Lobby, Anti-vilification Reformed Update appeared first on Saturday Magazine.