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Coalition backbenchers are vowing to continue their fight to change section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, even if it means defying a Cabinet decision to retain the wording of the section.
"The recommendations from Cabinet that come to the partyroom are just that," Liberal senator Chris Back told AM.
"I would listen courteously and carefully to what the outcome of the Cabinet recommendation was, but at the same time I would be very, very keen for the partyroom to draw the final position and convey that publicly."
Potential changes to section 18C were discussed at last night's cabinet meeting, with its deliberations expected to be presented to the Coalition partyroom at its regular meeting this morning.
Supporters in the Government of retaining the wording of the section, which makes it illegal to "insult" or "offend" on the basis of race, have told the ABC they are confident Cabinet will avoid major changes to the section.
One said doing so risked opening the Government up to attacks from Labor saying it was encouraging hate speech that could be politically damaging in key marginal seats with large minority communities within them.
But speaking on Lateline last night after the Cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce gave nothing away about its deliberations.
"There's all these reports about a massive split, that's a load of rubbish," he said.
"I just can't understand how these reports get legs when I was actually in the room and what they say there is just wrong."
AM asked Senator Back whether he thought the numbers might be stronger in Cabinet than in the partyroom to retain the wording of section 18C.
"I don't have the privilege of being in Cabinet so I can't answer that," he said.
"But I can tell you in the wider partyroom there is a mood for change."
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, community-and-society, race-relations, australia