Anti-vilification bill passed
By Tom Flanagan
The New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Act has been amended to outlaw vilification on the basis of a person's homosexuality. The private member's bill, introduced by independent MP Clover Moore, makes it unlawful "by public act, to incite hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of" people because of their homosexuality.
The passage of the bill marks the end of a bad week for so-called morals crusader Reverend Fred Nile. Earlier, rushing to the chamber to vote, Nile fell down a staircase and cracked three ribs.
In order to oppose the anti-vilification legislation, Nile discharged himself from hospital and attended the sitting dressed in pyjamas and seated in a wheelchair. He had threatened to prevent passage of the legislation during this parliamentary session by speaking for the three days until the session ended. In the end, he managed to speak for about four hours.
When the bill passed with the support of Labor, the Democrats and Liberal defector Ted Pickering, Nile went back to hospital and declared that neither he nor Elaine Nile, his wife and fellow MLC, would return for the rest of the session. This left the Liberal state government dependent on support from Labor or the Democrats to pass its legislation through the upper house.