Chin Tan backs calls for a code of conduct to crack down on hate speech in parliament

The race discrimination commissioner, Chin Tan, has backed calls from the Greens and Labor for a code of conduct or racial code of ethics to crack down on hate speech in parliament.

Tan said the Australian Human Rights Commission will give “in principle” support for parliamentary standards on speech about race and religion, a break from the Coalition government which has not endorsed either idea.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Tan singled out senator Fraser Anning’s comments in the wake of the Christchurch massacre as “an attack” on the Australian way of life but said he would let people’s “common sense” judge other inflammatory remarks such as Pauline Hanson’s warning Australia is being “swamped by Muslims”.

On Sunday the Greens renewed their calls for a parliamentary code of conduct to stamp out hate speech, reviving an idea that the Liberals and Labor referred to a committee when it was raised in the Senate last year.

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In 2016 Labor proposed to combine with the government to sign up to a new code of race ethics, a voluntary process for parliamentarians to agree on a set of principles including respect for religious and cultural diversity. The then Turnbull government did not sign on.

Asked about the proposals, Tan told Guardian Australia: “My view would be, in principle, we support that, I think all organisations should have a code of conduct in the way they behave in this particular area.”

Since the Christchurch attacks the blowback against racist remarks in Australian politics has focused on Anning who blamed a “growing fear over an increasing Muslim presence” in Australia and New Zealand. Labor and the Coalition have agreed to censure Anning when parliament returns in April.

Tan said that Anning’s statement was “very confronting”. He said it represents “an attack, more than an insult, to the Australian way of life, to the values that we subscribe to as a successful multicultural society”.

“This is an attack on what we stand for, what we believe in: a good, wonderful, harmonious multicultural society.”

Asked about Hanson’s statement in her first Senate speech that Australia is being “swamped by Muslims”, Tan responded it was “quite clear” which statements may increase racial hatred and division.

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“I think there is a common sense people have about where the line is to be drawn.

Tan said that “pointing fingers of blame or responsibility on groups” is a “very unfair way” to approach political discussions.

Asked why he was prepared to call out Anning by name but not Hanson, Tan responded that Anning had made his comments in the context of “lives that have been lost” in a “a very dark chapter” in Australian and New Zealand society.

Tan said he had been consistent in calling out racist statements. He noted Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten had denounced Anning “because of the context of this particular incident that has happened in Christchurch”. “It’s a good place to start this discussion.”

Asked if Muslims offended by Anning’s remarks could make complaints under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, Tan said the commission would consider complaints but he would not prejudice the process by commenting.

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“It’s there, people know about it, they’re entitled to exercise their rights in any way they feel.”

On Tuesday the former race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane told ABC that race hate laws “don’t cover Muslims”, because of the “obvious gap” that 18C does not protect people based on religion.

He said there was a “clear pattern” that “appeals to race have become more acceptable and more common” in Australian politics.

Soutphommasane took aim at government senators voting for a motion that it is “OK to be white” and “the panic that was fomented around African gangs or the dog whistling around multiculturalism and immigration”.

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils has separately called for a binding parliamentary code of conduct. Guardian Australia understands Labor has not responded to the Greens proposal.