Pauline Hanson sued over racially insensitive tweet
Pauline Hanson has been taken to court over a racially insensitive tweet aimed at Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, with Hanson's lawyers claiming she was merely responding to Faruqi's "provocative" comments.
In 2022, Hanson sent a public message on Twitter to Ms Faruqi, telling her to "pack (her) bags and piss off back to Pakistan".
Hanson's outburst was prompted by a post by Faruqi following the Queen's death, in which she wrote she could not mourn the passing of the leader of a "racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples".
Senator Mehreen Faruqi is suing the One Nation leader in the Federal Court over alleged racist discrimination, with the trial beginning on Monday.
Faruqi's barrister Saul Holt KC said the "demeaning and insulting" tweet was targeted towards his client as a Muslim woman of colour who had migrated to Australia, adding that such language from a public figure was extremely damaging to Faruqi and other migrants.
Holt went on to say that the tweet was part of a pattern of racially insensitive behaviour from Hanson, saying the public message was "pernicious and deeply harmful".
"A tweet of this kind in the Twittersphere, the dogwhistle doesn't just stand on its own," Holt said.
Faruqi is seeking court orders that the One Nation leader donate $150,000 to a charity of the Greens senator's choice.
Hanson's barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC called the lawsuit "unmeritorious", arguing her client had responded to an offensive tweet by the Greens senator which was designed to provoke a response.
"The wording used by my client ... is directed to Senator Faruqi and Senator Faruqi alone," Chrysanthou said.
Chrysanthou went on to say Faruqi's comments were hypocritical, given that she had previously sworn an oath of allegiance to the former monarch when she became an Australian senator.
Ms Faruqi is due to appear in the witness box as the trial continues.
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