Race Discrimination Commissioner II

[Rorschach]

'Balancing' act: Australia's new race commissioner is not inclined to commentary or advocacy
Michael Koziol
By Michael Koziol
4 October 2018

Chin Leong Tan, Australia's new race discrimination commissioner, sees his role very differently to predecessor Tim Soutphommasane. For one thing, he is not inclined to commentary or advocacy. Instead, he approaches issues with a clinical dispassion befitting his background as a commercial and property lawyer. One of his favourite words is "balance".

Take the most controversial debate in race politics last year: the bid to repeal or dilute section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person on the basis of race.

"It’s not for me to comment on legislation that’s been there for 40-odd years," says Mr Tan, who takes up his new position on Monday.

"Law is a living creature. If there’s the community sense that it’s time to perhaps look at some changes … my role is really to then arbitrate, and not to push for a view."

When pushed, he praises section 18C as "a reflection of Australian values and views that we have". But it is not clear if he believes those values should endure regardless of the prevailing sentiments in Canberra.

"I defend the existing section 18C for what it is ... it’s there as a law and I comply with the law," Mr Tan says.

It's a similar story when it comes to African gang violence in Victoria. The debate has elicited claims of race-baiting and dog-whistling ahead of a state election - particularly directed at Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who claimed Melburnians were afraid to go out to restaurants at night.

"He has a view and he expressed it. People had opposing views. That’s largely the debate that’s going on out there," Mr Tan says.

"It’s not my role to canvass an opinion about what politicians say from time to time, unless it becomes a public issue of a dimension that requires my involvement within the confines the Act."

The clash with Dr Soutphommasane's approach, particularly during his final months, could hardly be more stark. In his final speech, the former commissioner warned "race politics is back", and singled out Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Dutton, Tony Abbott, Andrew Bolt and others for criticism.

Dr Soutphommasane is a former Labor staffer and was appointed to the role by Labor in the dying days of the second Rudd government. Mr Tan unsuccessfully sought Liberal Party preselection in an on-again, off-again relationship with the party - he said he resigned his membership about a month ago after resuming it last year.

Attorney-General Christian Porter praised Mr Tan as "a well-known and recognised leader in the multicultural community" who would "represent all Australians".

In a clear departure from his predecessor, Mr Tan said there were limits to the power of "calling out" racism - even for the race discrimination commissioner.

"Calling out racism is very important, but I want to be very careful that we put things in context - because I do share a view that that can be overplayed sometimes," he said.

"It's important to remember the race discrimination [commissioner] role is not meant to divide, it’s meant to enhance communities and strengthen them."

Mr Tan was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents, and migrated to Melbourne in the 1980s. After leaving commercial law in 2011, he headed the Victorian Multicultural Commission, and since 2015 he has been director of multicultural engagement at Swinburne University of Technology.

His new $350,000-a-year job sits within the Australian Human Rights Commission, which has been the focus of political argy-bargy since the Coalition's spectacular falling out with former president Gillian Triggs over asylum seekers. Some conservatives argued for the race discrimination role to be scrapped or renamed, but the government opted to do neither.