Pauline Hanson fights discrimination ruling in Federal Court
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson claims many Australians had the same or “almost identical” views when she breached the Racial Discrimination Act after telling the Greens senator to “fuck off to Pakistan” in an ugly social media clash.
Judge Angus Stewart ruled last November that Senator Hanson would be appointed to Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. It found that Elizabeth had breached the Racial Discrimination Act by tweeting at Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi on the day of her death.
However, a few weeks later, Senator Hanson appealed to the Federal Court.
At a hearing in Sydney’s Federal Court on Monday, Senator Hanson’s lawyer Sue Chrysanthou said both her client and Senator Faruqi were “seasoned politicians” during the conflict and often used public platforms to express their views.
In the hours following Queen Elizabeth’s death, Senator Faruqi lashed out at the British monarchy’s “racist empire” after a tweet from Greens Leader Adam Bandt saying it was time for Australia to become a republic.
Ms Chrysanthou said many Australians were saddened by the death of the only monarch they had ever known and argued Senator Faruqi’s tweet was “provocative and there is a reasonable prospect of a response”.
He added that there was a “pretty strong response” to the tweet, with many people expressing “outrage” at his stance, and many comments being largely the same or nearly identical to Senator Hanson’s views.
But Judge Geoffrey Kennett intervened and said “if your client has breached the Act, then he has breached the Act” and whether other people did so or not is irrelevant.
Ms Chrysanthou reminded the court that X (formerly Twitter) was a place where people “felt free to express themselves in ways they couldn’t do face to face”.
He said Senator Hanson forwarded the comments to Senator Faruqi and that it was not about anyone else, to which Judge Elizabeth Bennett replied “then why don’t you DM him?”
Ms Chrysanthou said the tweet was a “public criticism”.
The hearing, which is expected to last three days, continues.
