According to Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson, many of the
Charlie Hebdo cartoons would be banned in Australia due to the
controversial section 18C of the Racial Discrimination
Act. However, upon further reading of the Act and the relevant
case law it seems that court ordered censorship of any
cartoonists' works is quite unlikely to occur.
Section 18C makes it unlawful for a person to do something in
public that is reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or
intimidate another person or a group of people because of their
race, colour or national or ethnic origin. On the surface, this
appears to support Wilson's comments made to ABC Radio on 13
January 2015 that "there is no ambiguity that Charlie Hebdo
would be censored in Australia". However, the ambiguity arises
out of section 18D. This section exempts certain acts, including
artistic work, that are done reasonably and in good faith.
