Rulings should also be decided by a jury of 12 people instead of by a judge, he said. Former Liberal minister Neil Brown says the Racial Discrimination Act can be fixed so that racists are not given a "blank cheque". The government promised to wind back what it called restrictions on free speech after Bolt was found guilty of breaching the act in two columns about "light-skinned" indigenous Australians. But a total repeal of section 18C - the so-called 'Bolt laws' on racial discrimination - would leave a "substantial and undesirable vacuum", warns Mr Brown, former deputy Liberal leader and federal MP. Mr Brown was a cabinet member and minister assisting the attorney-general in the Fraser government.

His submission to the current Attorney-General, George Brandis, argued a repeal could be interpreted as a "giving a blank cheque to those of a racist disposition to engage in racist activities or as even encouraging them". "The government would likely be roundly criticised for doing so," he said. "With proper amendment, rather than repeal, it will be possible to say that the amended law will prevent incitement to racial vilification and yet, at the same time, that it will not impose unjustified restrictions on freedom of expression." Mr Brown said the current system was flawed because it relied on a judge to determine whether someone was racially offended or insulted, and "tells us little about the community's view of the conduct in question". "Who better to determine whether an act offended community standards than the community itself by way of a jury?"

Mr Brown's calls come after more than 150 community and human rights groups urged Senator Brandis to reconsider his intention to scrap section 18C of the act. In an open letter last year, groups including Oxfam and the Australian Council of Social Service said the laws played a critical role in protecting people from discrimination and hate speech based on race, colour or culture. James Allan, a conservative law professor at Queensland University, said stopping short of repealing the section would be an embarrassment to the government's liberal credentials. "I hope they repeal the whole thing, but they're taking a very long time living up to this," he said. "If the Coalition caves in on this they ought to pilloried."

Professor Allan said Australians should be able to trust the good sense of their fellow citizens to see through the rantings of racists such as neo-Nazis. "Are you telling me that in the US, where there are no hate speech laws, that seven million Jews find it hard to get along?" He said that Bolt, "whether you agree with him or not" had the right to free speech. Joe Caputo, chairman of the Federation of Ethnic Communities Council, said the laws already allowed for free speech and should be left alone. "There's not carte blanche to vilify people because they have different coloured skin and are of different backgrounds," he said.

"But there is enough room for speech and genuine debate to take place when it is done in a respectful manner." Senator Brandis said he had held consultations with stakeholder groups, and would bring a proposal to the party room shortly. He would not say whether the meetings had influenced him away from a total repeal, but said it was a topic of "tremendous sensitivity" and it was "important to get it right". "The current legislation, section 18C, is unbalanced because it is too invasive of freedom of speech ... and the current Criminal Code provisions are, in my view, inadequate because they are limited to the incitement of violence alone. Loading

"What we want in this country is the right laws that protect people from inappropriate conduct while not outlawing freedom of speech and it's possible to do both if you write those laws in the appropriate way." Follow us on Twitter