A bid to weaken race hate laws has been revived because a crossbench senator fears the Muslim community haven’t come on board with “Team Australia”.

Family First senator Bob Day will co-sponsor a private members bill with outspoken Liberal backbencher Cory Bernardi and Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm, which will be introduced to the Senate on Thursday.

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The government, in August, dumped controversial plans to repeal 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it illegal to offend, insult or humiliate a person based on their ethnicity.

Senator Cory Bernardi. Photo: AAP

Prime Minister Tony Abbott cited the need to get everybody on “Team Australia” to support stronger anti-terrorism laws, as the reason.

But Senator Day is not convinced the goodwill gesture has achieved the intended results.

“When the Muslim community didn’t come on board with his Team Australia project, I would have thought all bets are off,” he told ABC Radio.

He felt compelled to take on the role of free speech champion despite it not really being his “thing”.

The bill’s intention is to strike the words “offend” and “insult” from section 18C reducing the legal recourse avenues for people who feel they’ve been wronged based on their race.

Labor has accused Senator Bernardi of promoting prejudice in the community by backing the bill.

“It shows that the desire to bring back the right to be a bigot is alive and well within the Liberal party,” Labor multiculturalism spokeswoman Michelle Rowland said.