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14 Sydney L. Rev. 163 (1992)
Offending with Impunity: Racial Vilification and Freedom of Speech

handle is hein.journals/sydney14 and id is 171 raw text is: Offending with Impunity: Racial Vilification and Freedom of Speech WOJCIECH SADURSKI L Introduction Poles, as you all probably know, are stupid, lazy and utterly dishonest. They are all constant trouble-makers: a brief look at the history of this peculiar nation should convince everyone that all they have been doing throughout the ages was to conspire against the security and well-being of their neighbours. But this is their, and their neighbours', problem. However, once allowed to migrate to other countries such as this great country of ours, they immediately become a force which contributes to moral decay, criminality and subversion. You must have heard the one about a Polish omelette (how to make one? - first, you steal three eggs...) or about how many Poles it takes to replace a light bulb - well, this reflects something, doesn't it. Oh, and they never use deodorants. The passage above, if taken seriously, and if included in a context which suggests that it is meant seriously, is likely to incite hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of a Polish ethnic minority.1 As such, its publication would now be punishable in New South Wales, just as it would in much of the modem world. Indeed, the supreme international body resolved that the UN member states should declare an offence punishable by law all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred.2 This in itself suggests that the matter is serious and deserves deeper consideration. First, it is serious politically in this country: while New South Wales and Western Australia are presently the only Australian states that prohibit public acts of racial vilification and incitement to racism,3 there are moves in a similar direction in the other Australian states4 as well as * Reader in the Department of Jurisprudence, the University of Sydney. I am very grateful to Craig Carracher, Francine Feld, Kenneth Gergen, Michael Kirby, Martin Krygier, Chandran Kukathas, Wotek Lamentowicz, Patricia Loughlan, Sarah McNaughton, Andy Michels, Philip Petrit and David Tucker for their comments and suggestions. 1 My own use of the passage in this article exempts me, I hope, from these charges: morally - because I am a Pole myself, hence beyond the suspicion of harbouring such great self-hate; legally - because it is done here reasonably and in good faith, for academic purposes which include discussion or debate about the law against racial vilification. The quoted words are taken from article (2)(c), Anti-Discrimination (Racial Vilification) Amendment Act NSW 1989. 2 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), Art 4 (a). 3 See, respectively, Anti-Discrimination (Racial Vilification) Amendment Act NSW 1989 s20 and Criminal Code 1913 (WA) ss76-80. 4 For example, in Victoria a special committee to advise the Attorney General on racial vilification released in June 1990 an Issues Paper (Racial Vilification in Victoria) for

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