The attached film clip from argument before the High Court of Australia in Kartinyeri v The Commonwealth (1998) 195 CLR 337 is rare. It was prepared for an ABC documentary film at the time.
The clip includes interrogation by the Bench of the Commonwealth Solicitor-General (Dr Gavan Griffith QC) the counsel for Ms Kartinyeri (James Spigelman QC, later Chief Justice of New South Wales); and questions asked by Brennan CJ; McHugh J; Kirby J and Callinan J concerning the ambit of the “races power” in the Australian Constitution, s51 xxvi, empowering the Federal Parliament to enact laws with respect to “the people of any race… for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws”. The judicial interventions demonstrate the differing philosophies of the Justices on the correct approach to ascertaining the meaning of the spare constitutional text.
