Bernardi’s 18C amendment proposal doomed after Coalition free vote ban, by Jared Owens.

Coalition frontbenchers have been banned from supporting firebrand senator Cory Bernardi’s proposal to amend the Racial Discrimination Act, dooming the free-speech crusade to failure.

Senator Bernardi has vowed to sponsor a bill when parliament resumes to remove the words “offend” and “insult” from the law’s controversial section 18C, which restricts speech that is “reasonably likely, in all the circumstances to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” on the basis of “race, colour or ­national or ethnic origin”.

Mathias Cormann, the deputy leader of the government in the Senate, today said there would be no free vote on the issue, binding Liberal and National frontbenchers to support the position espoused by Malcolm Turnbull.

hat-tip Stephen Neil