‘The ultimate racist slur’: Faruqi pursues Hanson in court over tweet

2 weeks ago 7

Greens legislator Mehreen Faruqi has told a tribunal that One Nation person Pauline Hanson levelled “the eventual racist slur” by telling her to “piss disconnected backmost to Pakistan” successful a societal media post.

Faruqi is suing Hanson nether radical favoritism laws successful effect to the remark connected Twitter, present X, which was posted connected September 9, 2022. The five-day Federal Court proceedings earlier Justice Angus Stewart started successful Sydney connected Monday.

Mehreen Faruqi and Pauline Hanson extracurricular the Federal Court successful Sydney connected Monday.

Faruqi, who migrated from Pakistan successful 1992 and is lawman person of the Greens, is seeking tribunal orders requiring Hanson to delete the post, be anti-racism grooming astatine her ain cost, and marque a $150,000 donation to a foundation chosen by Faruqi.

“I started experiencing racism successful an overwhelming mode erstwhile I entered into nationalist life,” Faruqi told the tribunal connected Monday. She denied bringing the enactment due to the fact that Hanson was a governmental opponent.

“The racism that you’ve experienced … is far, acold worse than the behaviour that you kick astir successful narration to my client,” Hanson’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, suggested. Faruqi rejected this.

Faruqi said the remark near her humilated and distressed, due to the fact that it was “implying and intelligibly saying that I don’t beryllium here”. This was “the eventual racist slur”, she said, and unleashed a torrent of radical maltreatment against her.

The tribunal heard Hanson’s remark was made successful effect to a station by the Greens senator, who noted the decease of Queen Elizabeth II and said she could not “mourn the person of a racist empire built connected stolen lives, onshore and wealthiness of colonised peoples”.

Hanson responded that Faruqi’s “attitude appalls and disgusts me”. “When you immigrated to Australia you took each vantage of this state ... It’s wide you’re not happy, truthful battalion your bags and piss disconnected backmost to Pakistan,” she said.

“I’m truly blessed successful this country,” Faruqi told the court. “I privation this state to beryllium the champion state successful the world.”

Faruqi’s barrister, Saul Holt, KC, told the tribunal connected Monday that Hanson was “a well-known, longstanding and prolific sayer of racist things, peculiarly anti-migrant and anti-Muslim things”.

Hanson had “played the idiosyncratic and not the ball” and “the racist facet of [her comment] ... was wholly gratuitous”, helium said.

Holt said Hanson’s station was a mentation of the well-known anti-migrant phrase, “go backmost to wherever you came from”. Hanson had antecedently said Muslim migration should beryllium banned entirely, Holt said.

But Chrysanthou argued the barrage of maltreatment against Faruqi “arose and started” due to the fact that of her ain “provocative and insensitive” remark connected X “about the decease of the monarch”.

During cross-examination connected Monday, Chrysanthou enactment to Faruqi: “You understood, didn’t you, that galore Australians would find your tweet offensive?”

“They evidently did. I did not mean it to offend anyone. I was stating a fact,” Faruqi said.

“You intended to provoke a response?” Chrysanthou pressed.

“I intended to enactment this contented connected the governmental agenda,” Faruqi said.

Faruqi said the comments successful effect to her post, including emails and “hundreds of pages” of societal media comments, were starkly antithetic aft Hanson’s comment.

Faruqi alleges Hanson’s post amounted to unlawful violative behaviour nether the Racial Discrimination Act due to the fact that the remark was reasonably apt to offend, insult, humiliate oregon intimidate, and it was done due to the fact that of her race, colour oregon nationalist oregon taste origin.

Hanson’s ineligible squad reason the remark fell wrong an exemption due to the fact that she acted reasonably and successful bully religion successful making a just remark connected a substance of nationalist interest, and it was an “expression of a genuine belief” held by her.

Chrysanthou argued that simply referring to someone’s background, colour oregon contention was “not sufficient” to amusement the enactment was done due to the fact that of that factor, and the behaviour successful question needed to beryllium serious.

Hanson’s ineligible squad has besides argued the Racial Discrimination Act provisions autumn foul of the implied state of governmental connection successful the Commonwealth Constitution, and are truthful “invalid successful full” oregon successful part.

That statement has prompted the Commonwealth attorney-general, represented successful the proceeding by Craig Lenehan, SC, to intervene successful the lawsuit to support the law validity of the sections.

Hanson is expected to springiness grounds connected Tuesday.