1.1        On 23 March 2017 the Senate referred the provisions of the Racial Discrimination Amendment Bill 2016 (the bill) to the committee for inquiry and report by 9 May 2017.

1.2        The committee considers that the content of the bill and related issues have been substantially considered by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights in its inquiry into Freedom of Speech in Australia, which was tabled in Parliament on 28 February 2017, and by this committee's inquiry into Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2017, which reported to the Senate on 28 March 2017.

1.3        While the committee did not invite submissions, three submissions have been received and published (refer to Appendix 1).

Recommendation 1

1.4        The committee recommends that, whilst the bill is not as comprehensive as the amendments proposed in Schedule 1 of the Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2017, this bill is still valuable and should be passed by the Senate.

Senator the Hon Ian Macdonald
Chair

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