Dear ,

Next week we are hosting two functions. The first one is about the Section 18C, the second a presentation by Jennifer Marohasy.

Tuesday April 26, 6:00 for 6:30 pm. Brisbane Launch of No Offence Intended: Why 18c is Wrong

No Offence Intended: Why 18c is Wrong is a serious scholarly work written by legal academics showing Section 18c is unconstitutional. This is a new line of attack and I urge you to come along and hear it first hand from two of its authors Joshua Forrester and Lorraine Finlay. Launching the book will be another legal academic, and member of our academic advisory board, Professor James Allan from the University of Queensland.

Registration is free - but please make sure you register to secure your spot by clicking here.

Here is what the book's publishers say about it:

From its inception, s 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) has been controversial. This law makes unlawful any act reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or group of people because of their race, colour, nationality or ethnicity. Serious concerns have been raised about s 18C's effect on freedom of expression.

In this book, the authors argue that s 18C is too broad and too vague to be constitutional. They argue that relevant international treaties do not support the sweeping scope of s 18C. Further, they argue that s 18C's breadth and complexity impermissibly infringes the freedom of communication about government and political matters implied from the Commonwealth Constitution. In the course of their argument, the authors also cover issues relevant to Australia's common law legal tradition and liberal democratic heritage. This book makes a timely contribution to the fight for freedom of expression in Australia.

Joshua Forrester: BA (Hons) (Murd), LLB (Hons) (UWA), PhD Candidate (Murdoch).

Lorraine Finlay: BA (UWA), LLB (UWA), LLM (NUS), LLM (NYU), Lecturer in Constitutional Law, Murdoch Law School.

Augusto Zimmermann: LLB (Hons), LLM cum laude, PhD (Mon) Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, Murdoch Law School; Law Reform Commissioner, Law Reform Commission of Western Australia; Professor of Law (adjunct), University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney.

Thursday April 28 at 6:30 pm. Jennifer Marohasy discusses BOM adjustments to temperature records that make the temperature seem hotter than it really is.

Noted blogger and campaigning scientist Jennifer Marohasy has done some detailed work on records of temperature from specific sites and can find no justification for the Bureau of Meteorology making early 20th Century temperatures colder than the raw data suggest they are.

Registration is a discounted $20 for AIP members. To register, click here.

We are co-hosting this function with Liberty Works and the Liberal Democrats.

Looking forward to seeing you at both functions.

Kind regards,

Graham Young
Executive Director
Australian Institute for Progress