Copyright 2013 Manchester Metropolitan University - Discourse Unit. Published version of the paper reproduced here with permission from the publisherAlthough encompassing a broad range of topic areas, approaches to analysis, and theoretical frameworks, it is
arguably the case that critical psychology in Australia is best represented by research undertaken on the topic of
racism. The primary reason why critical research on racism has been so prevalent in Australia, is because of the
ongoing history of colonisation in the country. Critical psychological approaches thus allow for a political (and
discursive) examination of the psychology of racism. This paper first outlines the context of Australia as a
colonial nation, before going on to analyse a press release made by one Australian politician in 2011. The
analysis, focused primarily on specific rhetorical devices, examines how Indigenous sovereignty - centred in the
paper as an empirical fact against which all knowledge or truth claims must be assessed - is denied, and
moreover how the press release signifies an investment in this denial. The paper concludes by suggesting that
critical psychology in Australia has an important ongoing role both in deconstructing existing truth claims about
race, as well as reconstructing new possibilities for thinking about and relating to the fact of Indigenous
sovereignty and colonisation.
Keywords: Australia, critical psychology, racism, colonisation, Indigenous sovereignty, politic
