Updated March 02, 2017 16:07:56

Photo: Barnaby Joyce says Section 18C is not important to everyday Australians. (ABC News: Nick Haggarty)

Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has slapped down "good mate" George Christensen's call for the Government to change the nation's racial discrimination laws.

Mr Joyce said he was more focused on resolving a major dispute with canegrowers in the Queenslander MP's electorate.

Divisions within the Coalition have been on show after a parliamentary inquiry failed to reach a consensus on whether to change Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it illegal to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate on the basis of race.

Conservative MPs have long argued the laws are too subjective and inhibit free speech but those on the moderate side — and those representing multicultural communities — believe the Act should remain unchanged.

Mr Christensen, who this week quit as the National Party whip, described the contentious section 18C as "political correctness enshrined into law" and warned the Coalition risked breaching the faith of its supporters unless it pushed ahead with changes.

"It's an issue of great importance for the people who fundraise for us, who hand out how-to-vote cards for us and who pre-select us so that we can stand as candidates and serve our electorates," he said.

"As far as I'm concerned this is a fundamental issue not only for democracy, but for the base of the Liberal and National parties."

'Fix problems closest to our lives'

But ministers, including Mr Joyce, have played down the importance of the issue saying changing Section 18C was not important to everyday Australians and would not create a single job.

In a fight against One Nation, some Government MPs might decide they can't battle an anti-establishment insurgency if they are the establishment.

In a pointed attack, Mr Joyce said cane growers would "rip" his head off if he prioritised changes to Section 18C over resolving a major dispute between foreign-owned miller Wilmar and Australian marketing group Queensland Sugar Limited in Mr Christensen's electorate.

"I'll go up and talk to the cane farmers, I'll say, 'Look fellas, I was going to try and sort this out but apparently I'm going to talk about 18C'," he said.

"You know full well that what those cane farmers will say to me is, 'If you do that we will rip your head off, you get hard at work fixing up the problems that's closest to our lives'."

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the committee's report would be considered by both the party room and Cabinet but would not offer a view on whether the laws should be changed.

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, race-relations, community-and-society, australia

First posted March 02, 2017 15:59:40