Citing historical speeches

In order to enhance the illocutionary force of their speeches，and to avoid the responsibility for making allegations that may incur unexpected public feedback，politicians appropriate a range of historical speeches made by previous politicians to support their arguments.The citing of historical speeches is used as a means by which to increase the effectiveness of a speech，and to reduce the political risk of being branded an extremist.Speeches made by Hanson provide us with excellent examples to demonstrate this.By using this technique，Hanson is able to increase the political mileage that can be made from her speeches，and at the same time minimises the risk of being criticised for creating a political and social disturbance.For example，in Hanson's maiden speech she quotes a speech made by Paul Haluch in 1955，but uses his words to convey exactly the opposite meaning to that which Haluch originally intended.In his 1955 speech，Haluchcriticises the extreme discrimination of white Australians'against indigenous peoples.In her speech，however，Hanson uses Haluch's words to criticise the federal government's discrimination against white Australians by providing too much assistance to indigenous people：

Mr Acting Speaker，as Paul Haluch said in Parliament，in October 1955（when he was Minister for Territories）：

“The distinction I make is this.A social problem is one that concerns the way in which people live together in one society.A racial problem is a problem，which confronts two different races who live in two separate societies，even if those societies are side by side.We do not want a society in Australia in which one group enjoys one set of privileges and another group enjoys another set of privileges.”

Hanson is aware of the fact that her speech would offend sections of the Australian community，as she openly admits in the latter part of her speech.She knows，for example，that indigenous people would be incensed that her speech was based on inaccurate information and ignored reality.For example，while the unemployment rate of indigenous Australians stands at around 38 percent，the unemployment rate of non-indigenous Australians hovers around 9 percent.And while 64 percent of indigenous people earn an income of less than$12000 per annum，this figure drops to 45 percent for non-indigenous Australians.［4］Because Hanson uses such inaccurate information，it could be inferred that she may harbour some fears concerning the credibility of her statements.Thus the most effective way to legitimate her claims is to refer to a well-known historical speech.This has the effect of making her outlandish claims more acceptable to the public，whilst simultaneously absolving her of any responsibility for the things she has said.