Tim Wilson: Wilson: 'total free speech' needed for Human Rights Commission

National

Aims for "almost total free speech": New human rights commissioner Tim Wilson. Photo: Justin McManus

The Australian Human Rights Commission should not always be ''singing from the same song sheet'' but include diverse opinions on issues such as free speech and racial slurs, incoming commissioner Tim Wilson says.

Mr Wilson told the Liberal Democratic Party conference in Sydney on Sunday that he was looking forward to energising the commission and would be pushing for ''almost total free speech''.

The commission needed more diverse voices within it, the commissioner-designate said.

''What we shouldn't have is the commission always singing from the same song sheet. Sometimes differences of opinion can add value and build the integrity of the commission,'' he said.

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Federal Attorney-General George Brandis has directed the Australian Law Reform Commission to investigate laws that unnecessarily encroach on traditional rights and freedoms.

''Clearly one of the first debates we will have is on free speech, and particularly the sensitive area of the Racial Discrimination Act,'' Mr Wilson said.

The act set the bar far too low in restricting speech, he said. ''The limits should only be to the extent that speech conflicts with other human rights, notably when speech explicitly incites and provokes violence against others.''

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Tim Wilson: Wilson: 'total free speech' needed for Human Rights Commission