The Full Federal Court of Australia has rejected One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson’s appeal to overturn a ruling which found her to have racially discriminated against Muslim Senator Mehreen Faruqi from the Greens Party.
According to Reuters, the three-judge panel unanimously upheld a 2024 ruling that the comment made by the right-wing leader on social media was unlawful and unprotected by free speech defences.
Hanson (above) made the remarks in September 2022 in response to Faruqi’s comments on X following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, in which the senator said she could not "mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples."
Responding to this, Hanson replied: "When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country ... It's clear you're not happy, so pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan."
A judge in 2024 ruled that Hanson’s post breached Australia’s racial discrimination laws, finding it was reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate Faruqi, as well as Muslim Australians and people of colour who had migrated to the country.
Hanson appealed the ruling, arguing that her post did not violate the law and that the legislation itself was unconstitutional.
‘Justice has prevailed’
Following the dismissal of the appeal, Faruqi told reporters that “justice has prevailed”.
"Today's win is for every single person out there who has been told to go back to where you came from," she added.
Meanwhile, Hanson said in a statement she was disappointed with the verdict.
"My legal team and I will now closely review the decision in the coming days, with a view to commencing an appeal in the High Court of Australia," she said.
The High Court of Australia is the country's final court of appeal.
Founded by Hanson in 1997, the One Nation party has long been defined by its opposition to multiculturalism.
The party initially centred its platform on criticism of Asian immigration and government welfare policies involving Indigenous Australians, before later broadening its focus to include opposition to Islam. - Mkini
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