Breaking: Pauline Hanson loses racial discrimination appeal

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has failed in her appeal against a court decision that found she engaged in racial discrimination against Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi. The original judgment, handed down in November 2024, determined that Hanson's statement telling Faruqi to "piss off back to Pakistan" violated Section 18C of Australia's Racial Discrimination Act. The court had ordered Hanson to delete the offending tweet.

During the appeal hearings, Hanson's legal team argued that Section 18C should not apply to political speech, asserting that such communication is protected under the Australian Constitution. However, Justice Melissa Perry of the Federal Court of New South Wales indicated that the court would reserve its decision regarding the allocation of legal costs.

The case originated from a Twitter post made by Senator Faruqi in September 2022, the same day Queen Elizabeth II died. Faruqi had posted that she could not mourn the leader of a "racist empire" built on the exploitation of colonized people. In response, Hanson tweeted: “Your attitude appals and disgusts me. When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country. You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and a job in a parliament. It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan. – PH.”

Justice Angus Stewart, in his initial ruling, concluded that Hanson's post exhibited anti-Muslim or Islamophobic sentiments. He also noted that Hanson's substantial online following could embolden others to post similar messages on the platform, now known as X.

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Your attitude appals and disgusts me. When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country. You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and a job in a parliament. It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan. – PH.