Sky News host Danica De Giorgio has shared her concerns over the Albanese government’s plans to introduce a raft of new anti-vilification laws.
During a discussion with colleague James Macpherson on their Sunday night program they pointed to the introduction of hate speech laws in Scotland that generated a large number of complaints when they first came into effect.
Di Giorgio argued that Australian authorities would be overwhelmed with complaints from people about their pronouns.
“Say I misgender you and you’ve taken offence to that.” Di Giorgio proposed.
“You’re going to pick up the phone and call the Hate Speech Hotline and say this person Danica Di Giorgio has upset me and suddenly know I am subjected to a criminal investigation as to whether I have committed a hate speech against you.”
Macpherson responded that if Di Giorgio had misgendered him he’d “buy her some spectacles and re-enrol her in Year Nine Biology”.
The journalist’s response to the proposed legislation, that is yet to be made public, will undoubtedly have a threshold for what is classed as vilification, and the government is yet to confirm whether gender identity will even be on their list of protected attributes.
Earlier this week advocacy group Just.Equal highlighted that the effectiveness of the proposed laws cannot be determined until the legislation is released.
