Dean Foley/Australia
The Australian Federal Police this week confirmed the existence of a legal “threshold” for hate speech that sits at an altitude previously reserved for migratory birds and the occasional lost weather balloon, after determining that Senator Pauline Hanson’s comments about Muslim Australians didn’t clear it.
“We measured it…” an AFP spokesperson did not say while gesturing vaguely upward. “It’s up there somewhere. You’d need a ladder. Possibly a rocket.”
Mob across the country nodded in grim recognition. “Oh, we know that threshold,” said Cousin Deano, unpacking the esky at a Redfern barbecue. “It’s the exact same height four hundred deaths-in-custody findings have to clear before anyone up top notices. Never met a finding yet that could jump that high, unna.”
The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act (the very law the Senator warned would “put her back in jail”) instead delivered a written note reading does not meet threshold, which locals confirm is the politest three words in the English language after “no worries, cuz.”
Legal experts stress the threshold is applied with total consistency: rigidly for the powerless, generously for anyone holding a Senate pass and a media contract.
