Letter to The Editor

of THE AUSTRALIAN
It is puzzling that Michael Sexton finds it 'puzzling that several groups representing the Jewish community' have not defended free speech ('Section 18C as it now stands is here to stay despite its obvious faults', 3/11). Their determination to suppress Holocaust revisionism played a major role in the passing of the Racial Hatred Act in 1994, as ALP MP Graeme Campbell noted in the debate in Parliament at that time. They have maintained their opposition to free public debate on this topic ever since.

What is more puzzling is why this aspect of the free speech debate has hardly been mentioned in the enormous coverage of the controversy over 18C in recent months. Repeal of 18C is needed for several reasons, one of which is to ensure that historical revisionists are not wrongfully punished in Australia as they are in Germany, France and other European nations.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic