Racial discrimination laws weak against offensive cartoons

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Image: Newtown grafitti, flickr.

Cartoonist Bill Leak shocked many when The Australian published his cartoon depicting an Aboriginal father, beer can in hand, not able to recognise his son when confronted by a police officer.

Mr Leak and The Australian defended the cartoon saying it was an attempt to raise the “core issue” of the breakdown of families in some remote Aboriginal communities.

Many are questioning a possible defamation case, which is seemingly unlikely under section 18D of Australia’s defamation laws.

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Friday, August 5 2016
Featured in storyRoy Ah-See - Sydney/Newcastle Chairperson, New South Wales Aboriginal Land CouncilProfessor Simon Rice - Director of Law Reform and Social Justice, Australian National UniversityDr Amanda Porter - Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning
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