Does the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) apply to racist websites?
Yes, the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (‘the RDA’) does apply to racist websites. The RDA has a section on racial hatred (section 18C) that says that any public act that is reasonably likely, in all circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate people on the basis of their race, colour or national or ethnic origin, is unlawful unless it is done reasonably and in good faith in certain specific circumstances. Because the RDA only applies to public acts, websites that are private and not easily accessible (for example, those that are password protected) are unlikely to be covered. Therefore, if you are offended or insulted because of your race by a website, or material on a website, which you have viewed in Australia, you may complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission). A good example of a case on racist websites is Jones v. Toben.1 There, the Federal Court of Australia found that the website of the ‘Adelaide Institute’ breached the provisions of the R
