Pauline Hanson to appeal racial discrimination finding in High Court

The High Court has agreed to hear One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson's appeal against a finding she racially vilified Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi by telling her to "piss off back to Pakistan".

Senator Hanson applied for special leave to appeal to the High Court in August, after the Federal Court upheld a decision that she breached racial discrimination laws during an interaction on the online platform X, then called Twitter.

The case dates back to September 2022, when Senator Faruqi posted a tweet after the death of Queen Elizabeth II: 

"Condolences to those who knew the Queen. I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples. We are reminded of the urgency of Treaty with First Nations, justice & reparations for British colonies & becoming a republic."

Senator Hanson responded with a tweet of her own: 

"Your attitude appalls [sic] 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."

In November 2024, Justice Angus Stewart found Senator Hanson's reply was "seriously humiliating" and ordered she delete the tweet.

That decision was unanimously upheld in July this year, when the Federal Court dismissed all seven grounds of Senator Hanson's appeal.  

But her last legal avenue in the High Court will take the case up to Senator Faruqi and the Commonwealth Attorney-General as the second respondent.

It challenges the validity of Australia's racial discrimination laws on two grounds, by arguing that Commonwealth does not have the power to make those laws, and that they infringed on the implied freedom of political communication.

In her submissions, Senator Hanson argued her case should be heard because the High Court had never tested the validity of certain sections of the racial discrimination legislation.

She argued the High Court had previously been divided over whether preventing offensive, insulting or humiliating communication was a legitimate purpose of the legislation, even if it was "likely to arouse significant anger, outrage, disgust or hatred".

Because the matter concerned a dispute over political communication between two sitting Commonwealth senators, Senator Hanson argued her case was of public importance.

The court agreed, and on Thursday cleared the way for her case to be heard before the High Court. The matter will be heard at a later date.

'Bring it on': Faruqi

In response to the High Court decision, Senator Faruqi issued a statement saying, "bring it on".

"This has been a long, hard road walked alongside everyone who has been targeted by racism. We won't be backing down now.

"The highest court in Australia can now determine once and for all that people in this country are protected against racism. People of colour, migrants and Muslims deserve to feel safe in the place they call home," she said.

"In times like these where we are being attacked and demonised, our legal system must be able to provide protection against vilification".