Arguments to reform race hate speech laws are “strong”, Malcolm Turnbull has said.
The prime minister’s remarks – made in an interview on 2GB on Thursday morning – leave the door open to reforming racial discrimination laws by removing the prohibition on insulting or offending people based on race contained in section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
Turnbull also promised to write to the competition watchdog about high petrol prices.
Previously the prime minister had ruled out making any adjustments to the Racial Discrimination Act but on Thursday he said only that the government had no plans to change the law “at this stage”.
He also defended the government’s proposed superannuation changes and the foreign investment scheme after a backbench revolt about super and the controversy of blocking two foreign bids for Ausgrid.
On petrol prices, Turnbull said it was “hard to justify” why petrol stations moved prices from $1.20 a litre to $1.45 and back again.
He said competition and transparency were the best solutions, and pointed to phone applications that allow consumers to compare prices, saying he had used one on Thursday himself.
“But, of course, the problem is that very few of us have got the time to drive around,” Turnbull said. “This is definitely a matter for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
“I can see this has become a matter of real concern, I’ll make it my business today to get in touch with [ACCC chairman] Rod Sims myself.”
The ACCC has said that it would take six months or more to determine if live petrol pricing apps, an echo of the Rudd government’s proposed fuel watch scheme, were having a real effect on petrol prices.
This week the regulator warned that gross retail margins – the difference between retail prices and published wholesale prices – in the five largest cities averaged 11.2 cents a litre in 2015–16, the highest level since the ACCC began monitoring them in 2002.
Asked if the government would reform or repeal laws prohibiting insulting or offending people based on race, Turnbull replied: “No, not at this stage.”
That was because the government had higher and more urgent priorities, like budget repair, he explained.
“There has been a strong argument made over a long period of time to remove the words insult and offend from 18C,” he said. “When Tony was prime minister he proposed some wider changes than that and then decided … to take the matter off the agenda.”
The comments appear to leave open the option of removing the words. They come after Labor accused Turnbull on Friday of changing his position on the law because he said his position “depends” on what changes are being proposed, which it said contradicted earlier assurances that changes were off the table.
Crossbench senators will push to remove the words insult and offend from section 18C. As Guardian Australia reported in early August, the Family First senator, Bob Day, said he and Turnbull had agreed Day would reintroduce a bill in early 2016 to do so, shortly after Turnbull became prime minister.
Turnbull refused to comment on a section 18C case before the federal court relating to access to a Queensland university IT lab reserved for Indigenous students.
The prime minister defended the government’s proposed superannuation changes, saying they only applied to a “very small percentage of taxpayers and superannuants” who had contributed more than $500,000 in after-tax income and had super balances “well over $2m”.
He said people were concerned about the changes because of their “aspiration” to build up their balances, but said they “may not necessarily get to more than $500,000 over their lifetime”.
Turnbull said it was fair to apply the cap from 2007 or else people who had already put in $500,000 in after-tax contributions would be able to put in a further $500,000 for a total of $1m, whereas those who had not would be limited to $500,000.
He defended Australia’s foreign investment regime, saying that it was easier to invest in Australia than in China and the Chinese government “absolutely understands” Australia reserves the right to block foreign sales on national interest grounds.
“We decide who invests in Australia and that is our sovereign right as a nation – and we do,” he said.
Turnbull also revealed that no Australians had been reported dead or injured in the deadly earthquakes in Italy’s Abruzzo region.
