News Corp columnist Bolt was found to have breached the law in 2011 when he penned a column about a group of ''light-skinned'' indigenous Australians.

The column was found to be in breach of Section 18C, which makes it unlawful to publish material that offends or insults a person or group because ''of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the person or of some or all of the people in the group'' – the same section Senator Brandis intends to wind back.

Senator Brandis told The Australian that he was certain that the changes to the act would be viewed as the government condoning racist behaviour, but said he believed ''you cannot have a situation in a liberal democracy in which the expression of an opinion is rendered unlawful because somebody else ... finds it offensive or insulting''.

''The classic liberal democratic rights that in my view are fundamental human rights have been almost pushed to the edge of the debate,'' he said.

''It is a very important part of my agenda to re-centre that debate so that when people talk about rights, they talk about the great liberal democratic rights of freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of worship and freedom of the press.''