The new Assistant Multicultural Affairs Minister, Zed Seselja, has softened his stance on changes to the Racial Discrimination Act.

Senator Seselja last year said he supported a Family First bill that would remove the words "offend" and "insult" from 18C of the act after the Government decided not to pursue its own amendments.

The Government took the contentious changes to the laws off the table to protect national unity.

"Under the Racial Discrimination Act we have a completely subjective test applying to anyone identifying with a particular ethnicity or nationality — a hurt feelings test," Senator Seselja said at the time.

However, after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today appointed him to Cabinet, Senator Seselja told the ABC he would support the Government's position.

"Obviously the Government has a position on it so as part of the Government I will pursue that," Senator Seselja said.

He also brushed off criticism on social media he was not a good fit for the role.

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"I'm not going to get into the game of responding to the Twitteratti," he said.

The Canberra-based senator is the first ACT Liberal to be given a ministry.

"Obviously my background is a migrant background with my parents coming here from Croatia so certainly I have some understanding of our multicultural communities," Senator Seselja said.

"I've already had a brief discussion with the head of the department, Finn Pratt, and then in the coming days I'll be receiving more formal briefings."