The Senate has started debating changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, despite protests from the Opposition and the Greens that they haven't had enough time to consider the changes. During the debate, Labor's Leader in the Senate Penny Wong made several references to Lord of the Rings, and compared the Attorney General George Brandis to the fictional character Gollum. But Liberal Senator Eric Abetz says those opposing changes to Part 18C are hypocrites, as they're happy to sling insults but just not when it's about someone's race. The Government is still hoping to get the numbers to pass the legislation through the Senate this week, although at this stage that looks unlikely with key crossbenchers not convinced that there needs to be a change to the wording.