RACIAL HATRED ACT 1995 No. 101, 1995 - SECT 3 Insertion of new Part

RACIAL HATRED ACT 1995 No. 101, 1995 - SECT 3

3. After Part II of the Principal Act, the following Part is inserted:

"PART IIA-PROHIBITION OF OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOUR BASED ON RACIAL HATRED Reason for
doing an act

"18B. If:

   (a)  an act is done for 2 or more reasons; and

   (b)  one of the reasons is the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of
        a person (whether or not it is the dominant reason or a substantial
        reason for doing the act); then, for the purposes of this Part, the
        act is taken to be done because of the person's race, colour or
        national or ethnic origin.

Offensive behaviour because of race, colour or national or ethnic origin

"18C.(1) It is unlawful for a person to do an act, otherwise than in private,
if:

   (a)  the act is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend,
        insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people;
        and

   (b)  the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic
        origin of the other person or of some or all of the people in the
        group. Note: Subsection (1) makes certain acts unlawful. Section 22
        allows people to make complaints to the Human Rights and Equal
        Opportunity Commission about unlawful acts. However, an unlawful act
        is not necessarily a criminal offence. Section 26 says that this Act
        does not make it an offence to do an act that is unlawful because of
        this Part, unless Part IV expressly says that the act is an offence.



"(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an act is taken not to be done in
private if it:

   (a)  causes words, sounds, images or writing to be communicated to the
        public; or

   (b)  is done in a public place; or

   (c)  is done in the sight or hearing of people who are in a public place.



"(3) In this section:
'public place' includes any place to which the public have access as of right
or by invitation, whether express or implied and whether or not a charge is
made for admission to the place.

Exemptions

"18D. Section 18C does not render unlawful anything said or done reasonably
and in good faith:

   (a)  in the performance, exhibition or distribution of an artistic work; or

   (b)  in the course of any statement, publication, discussion or debate made
        or held for any genuine academic, artistic or scientific purpose or
        any other genuine purpose in the public interest; or

   (c)  in making or publishing:

        (i)    a fair and accurate report of any event or matter of public
               interest; or

        (ii)   a fair comment on any event or matter of public interest if the
               comment is an expression of a genuine belief held by the person
               making the comment.

Vicarious liability

"18E.(1) Subject to subsection (2), if:

   (a)  an employee or agent of a person does an act in connection with his or
        her duties as an employee or agent; and

   (b)  the act would be unlawful under this Part if it were done by the
        person; this Act applies in relation to the person as if the person
        had also done the act.



"(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an act done by an employee or agent of a
person if it is established that the person took all reasonable steps to
prevent the employee or agent from doing the act.

State and Territory laws not affected

"18F. This Part is not intended to exclude or limit the concurrent operation
of any law of a State or Territory.".