The Things You Need: Racial Hatred, Pauline Hanson and the Limits of the Law
Lawrence McNamara · SSRN Electronic Journal · 2008
The paper is concerned with the ability of the law to comprehend and combat racial hatred, particularly when it is expressed in liberal terms. In October 1997, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found certain of Ms Hanson's statements were not capable of being discriminatory or vilificatory under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth). It is suggested that an alternative interpretive framework, based in politics and culture, illuminates racist meanings which are denied by the Member for Oxley. It is argued that Pauline Hanson is speaking the language of hate, though shrouding it in the legitimate and legitimising languages of liberalism and nationalism, attempting to reconstitute particular (and discriminatory) conceptions of equality and identity as universal (and non-discriminatory). In conclusion, the analysis questions and reflects upon the nature and validity of legal interpretation, particularly as it concerns the liberal expression of racial hatred.