ABSTRACT
‘It's the Constitution, it's Mabo … it's the vibe!’ So goes one of the most memorable lines of dialogue from Rob Sitch's cult Australian film, The Castle (1997). Now a hook of Australian popular culture as well as that nation's legal consciousness, this phrase makes reference to the Constitution and the landmark judgment of the High Court, Mabo and Others v The State of Queensland (No 2) (1992), 2 hereafter referred to as Mabo. 3 It is a phrase that has been repeated, just as feebly, by scores of flummoxed law students from Toowoomba to Tasmania grasping at constitutional straws in public law exams or essays, as it was in the film by the character of fly-by-night solicitor, Dennis DeNuto. DeNuto (played here to ‘wog-boy’ perfection by Tiriel Mora) utters these immortal words before the Federal Court, 4 after losing his administrative appeal challenging the federal government's ‘compulsory acquisition’ of the modest (to say the least) Melbourne home of his truckie client, Aussie Everyman, Daryl Kerrigan (a role brilliantly taken by character actor, Michael Caton). DeNuto's mot (in)juste, however, is memorable not only for its catchphrase quality, but also as an outstanding example of what semiotics would call ‘empty discourse’, worthy to chime in along with Daryl's meaningless mantras like ‘He's an ideas man’, ‘Tell ‘em they're dreamin’ or, my personal favourite,
