Ms Hanifa Deen

Author, Australia

A Question of Boundaries: A Close Encounter with Victoria's Vilification Law

Abstract

The Victorian Racial and Religious Tolerance Act (2001) has been covered in controversy right from its inception in 2000. The debate continues amongst diverse groups as to whether this is a ‘good act’ or a ‘bad act’ and whether or not this State law undermines freedom of expression.

The Islamic Council of Victoria v Catch the Fire Ministries Inc. (the first religious vilification case lodged under the new law) has come to be viewed as an important test case that may decide certain boundaries affecting free speech. The original decision, handed down by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), in December 2005, found in favour of the Islamic Council. However, almost a year later, the Victorian Court of Appeals allowed the appeal and referred the case back to VCAT.  A nightmare of a case expected to be over in three days is now in its sixth year with many questions still unanswered. Was the ICV complaint against the Born-again Christians vilification under the Act? Is this new law really a de facto blasphemy act as many of its critics insist?

At the time of writing it is not known whether the Islamic Council will appeal to the High Court of Australia or accept the decision to return to the Tribunal and commence proceedings once again.

Today the debate continues, as groups and individuals on both sides weigh the consequences to Australian society of limiting freedom of speech in an attempt to stem religious vilification.

Deen discusses issues arising from this particular legal conflict including the views of the pro and anti legislation groups facing each other across the barricades, and the fallout in terms of community relations flowing on from a case, which began in 2002 and is still not over. She explores the fine line separating freedom of speech from hate speech and the difficulties of interacting with one another in a multi-faith society.

Bio

Hanifa Deen is a Melbourne-based author and social commentator; she is an award winning Australian author of Pakistani ancestry who writes narrative non-fiction. She has held a number of high profile positions including Hearing Commissioner with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission; Deputy Commissioner of the Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission of WA, and a director on the Board of SBS,

She is also an Hon. Senior Research Fellow at the Centre of Muslim Minorities and Islam Policy Studies, Monash University.

Deen’s first book, Caravanserai: A Journey Among Australian Muslims, (Allen & Unwin) won a NSW Premier’s Literary Award in 1996. A revised and updated edition of Caravanserai rewritten in the shadow of the September 11 tragedy was released in May 2003 by Fremantle Arts Centre Press.

Broken Bangles, her best-selling book on the lives Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, published by Transworld, was short-listed in 1998 for another literary award and was later published in India in 2000 by Penguin-India.

The Crescent and the Pen: The Strange Journey of Taslima Nasreen was released in the USA, in November 2006 by Greenwood Publishing under the Praeger imprint.

Her current book: The Jihad Seminar is due out in late 2007.

Deen has recently completed a consultancy for the National Australian Archives in Canberra compiling stories and vignettes from archival documents on ‘Muslim Australians 1901-1975’.