I wrote this letter some days ago regarding the Racial vilification laws. The West has published it today. "I note the comments of Emma Garlett in the Op Ed piece in yesterday’s “The West Australian”. To place the comments in context of what anti-racism rules there are in WA, let me share my experiences with your readers. When Dr Gallop was the Premier, I worked with him to toughen the racial vilification rules that apply here. The original provisions had been formulated back in the days when Jack van Tongeren was running riot in this state back in the 1980’s. So it was that we, in December 2004, saw the amendments to the legislation being introduced into Parliament. What this legislation did was as follows: The WA Criminal Code was amended to now have two levels of offences envisaged. The lesser offence did not require the Police to determine the motivation for the perpetrators actions. If the outcome of that person’s actions were racist in nature then the lesser offence could be preferred and the maximum jail sentence was set at 5 years. The more serious offence required the prosecutor to ascertain and prove the reasons for the actions being undertaken. And if those reasons involved racial vilification motivations, then the maximum jail sentence was set at 14 years. The overriding considerations for the Police prosecutors then become the following: • Will we be able to categorically prove the perpetrators intent? • What is the likelihood of the perpetrator getting the maximum sentence and • Will that maximum sentence exceed the one that the perpetrator may receive under other charges (e.g. GBH, Murder, manslaughter etc) • This then determines whether they go down the path of preferring racial vilification charges. So, Ms Garlett is certainly right that the provisions require review and updating to make them more contemporaneous. Now it’s over to the legislators to take that on board and work to that preferred outcome.
