Australian Racial Hatred Law: Some Comments on Reasonableness and Adjudicative Method in Complaints Brought by Indigenous People

This article examines the adjudication of complaints of racial hatred brought by Indigenous applicants under the Racial Discrimination Act. The objective is to analyse how the legislative rules are interpreted and applied through the processes of adjudicative decision-making. The article focuses on ways in which the concept of reasonableness in the legislation is interpreted by adjudicators, in addition to some aspects of the broader processes and practices of adjudication. It is argued that the law in practice in these cases is problematic, in several interrelated respects.