Thursday, May 30, 2013



Not doing her job

Back in March, Susan Devoy was appointed as Race Relations Commissioner. From the salaries paid to other members of the Human Rights Commission, she is being paid over $200,000 a year for it. And she's not doing her job.

Devoy's response to Al Nisbet's racist cartoons is basically to shrug her shoulders and say that as it does not meet the threshold for criminal prosecution for inciting racial disharmony, it is not racist and she can (and should) do nothing. Bullshit. This conflates the standard for criminal prosecution - justifiably high in a free and democratic society - with that of social disapproval. But as Race Relations Commissioner she is primarily responsible for the latter, and it is her job to express that disapproval where necessary. But instead of fulfilling her statutory duty to be an advocate for human rights, she's making excuses for racists:

A lot of people agreed with the cartoons, Dame Susan said.

It would be nice if Devoy actually did the job we were paying her for. If she's not willing to do so, she should resign and repay the money we've paid her.