Racial vilification is the term in the legislation of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 that refers to a public act that encourages or incites others to hate people because of their race, nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

, country of origin

Country of origin

Country of origin , is the country of manufacture, production, or growth where an article or product comes from...

, colour

Coloured

In the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers to an heterogenous ethnic group who possess ancestry from Europe, various Khoisan and Bantu tribes of Southern Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaya, India, Mozambique,...

 or ethnic origin

Ethnic origin

The concept of ethnic origin is an attempt to classify people, not according to their current nationality, but according to where their ancestors came from...

. Public acts of this type are illegal according to e.g., the Racial Vilification Act 1996

Racial Vilification Act 1996

Racial Vilification Act 1996 is the short title of the Act to prohibit certain conduct involving vilification of people on the ground of race. It is a part of the legislation in South Australia, assented to December 12, 1996...

 of South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

.

Vague provisions of the law that criminalise racial vilification caused criticism. In 2006 a controversy sparkled over a court decision not to prosecute an Australian aborigine girl according to the Vilification Act for calling someone "white slut

Slut

Slut or slattern is a pejorative term applied to an individual who is considered to have loose sexual morals or who is sexually promiscuous...

". Critics classified this as an example of reverse discrimination

Reverse discrimination

Reverse discrimination is a controversial term referring to discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, including the city or state, or in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group such as African Americans being slaves. Groups may be defined in terms of...

, while Attorney-General of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 Jim McGinty

Jim McGinty

James Andrew McGinty is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2009, representing the district of Fremantle. He was Labor Party leader and Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1996...

commented that "The laws are not about cracking down on name calling. What they are about is racial hatred in the most vile and serious of manners."