After budget backlash and a huge drop in government support, attorney-general George Brandis is reportedly planning to back off on plans to remove sections of the Racial Discrimination Act.

According to a report in The Age, Mr Brandis has reacted to outrage about his proposal by moving to wind back the proposed changes.

The changes would have scrapped section 18C, which pertains to the definition of racist insults and hate speech.

Specifically, Mr Brandis will reportedly water down a section in the draft legislation related to “hate speech” which exempts “words, sounds, images or writing spoken, broadcast, published or otherwise communicated in … the public discussion of any political, social, cultural, religious, artistic, academic or scientific matter” from prosecution.

Community groups and Coalition MPs in marginal electorates, some representing large ethnic communities, have fiercely protested the changes.

Liberal MPs who supported the initial plan have also agreed that the government needs to rethink the changes, admitting that the laws have fallen to the wayside during the post-budget storm.

“There hasn’t been a word whispered about it,” one MP shared.

The change in approach comes after Aboriginal reconciliation leader Patrick Dodson last night called for politicians to be “brave, bold and courageous” during his Lowitja O’Donoghue Oration in Adelaide.

Mr Dodson reiterated the powerful impact of racism, saying “it drives us out of places and spaces where we have every right to live and learn…It’s not a triviality.”