With ACT Labor taking a watching brief on the proposed George Brandis changes to racial vilification laws, backbencher Chris Bourke said he was appalled that the green light has been switched on to bigotry.
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''I can't imagine anybody who has been subjected to racial abuse, who has been concerned that their children could be subjected to racial abuse, would say something like that,'' he said of Senator Brandis' suggestion that people should be free to be bigots.
Mr Bourke was responding to news that ACT Greens parliamentarian Shane Rattenbury wants the ACT to bypass any federal changes and ensure racially offensive and insulting behaviour remains illegal in Canberra.
Mr Rattenbury is seeking to amend the ACT Discrimination Act to outlaw behaviour that offends, insults or humiliates someone on the grounds of race.
These are the provisions that federal Attorney-General Brandis plans to remove from the Racial Discrimination Act, leaving it illegal only to intimidate or vilify.
A spokeswoman for Labor leader Katy Gallagher said she did not see a need for a motion in the Assembly, as planned by Mr Rattenbury, but would make a submission to the Commonwealth on the Brandis changes. It was too soon to look at changing Canberra's laws, she said.
Mr Bourke, the first Aboriginal parliamentarian in the territory, said he had been subjected to racial abuse, ''and the this idea that a bit of a racial insult is just something you can brush off, well it's not like that at all''.
''The word offensive does not come close to describing how it felt,'' he said. ''The level of harm which is done by racial abuse can affect people beyond that which might come from a physical blow - the mental harm, the psychological impact, these are wounds that people carry for a long time … This goes to someone's identity. It's about who you are, your view of your worth and it's done deliberately by someone who thinks that their race is superior and they're using it to put you down and to encourage others to do the same.''
He was also concerned about the cohesion of the Canberra community, one of the most multicultural in the country, and he said it was all very well to legislate against racism in Canberra, ''but what about when I go to Queanbeyan?''
Senator Brandis did not comment on the Rattenbury proposal, but a spokesman pointed to his comments earlier in the week that he was keen to hear people's views.
