Australian populist figure Pauline Hanson has had her appeal against a racial discrimination ruling dismissed by the Federal Court. The decision, delivered on Monday, upholds a previous 2024 ruling that the One Nation party leader racially discriminated against Muslim Senator Mehreen Faruqi through a social media post in 2022.
The case stems from a tweet by Hanson in September 2022, following a post by Senator Faruqi regarding the death of Queen Elizabeth II. While offering condolences to those in mourning, Faruqi stated she could not mourn a "leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised people." Hanson responded to this by telling Senator Faruqi to "return to Pakistan," a comment Justice Melissa Perry has now affirmed constitutes racial discrimination.
During the appeal, Hanson's legal team argued that political communication should be protected; however, Justice Perry dismissed this argument. The 2024 ruling by Judge Angus Stewart had previously described Hanson's tweet as an "angry personal attack" that was "anti-Muslim" and a "variant of the slogan, 'go back to where you came came from'," identifying it as a "racist trope with a long history" implicitly targeting Muslims. That earlier ruling had ordered Hanson to delete the tweet and cover Senator Faruqi's legal expenses.
Outside the court, Senator Faruqi, who is the deputy leader of the Greens party, expressed her satisfaction with the outcome. She stated that the victory was for "every single person who has been made to feel that their belonging in this country is conditional" and emphasised that the case was about accountability for racism, asserting that "Hate speech is not free speech."
Hanson, known for her controversial views and past advocacy for a "Muslim ban" on immigration, expressed disappointment with the Federal Court's decision. She indicated that she and her legal team intend to review the judgment with the intention of pursuing an appeal in the High Court of Australia. This latest development follows recent criticism of Hanson for an interview earlier this year where she suggested there were no "good" Muslims, and a podcast this month where she denied advocating for a return of the historical "White Australia" policy, which banned non-white immigrants from 1901 to the 1970s.