On Sunday, Mr Baird said he held a similar position to the former premier.

"I'm not a lawyer, but from my point of view, if it's not broken, don't fix it and there does seem to be broad concern across the community about some of these changes," Mr Baird told Sky News on Australian Agenda.

"Obviously my position is the same as Barry's, who had concerns on this, and my urging to the federal Attorney-General is to take on some of those community concerns.

"I will be making my comments clear and they reflect the concerns I'm hearing across the community on this."

An exposure draft has proposed changing section 18C, which makes it unlawful for someone to act in a manner likely to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" because of race or ethnicity. The proposals include removing the words "offend, insult and humiliate", but retaining the word "intimidate" and adding the word "vilify". It is also proposed that section 18D, which protects freedom of speech, should be replaced with a new section.