Australia's High Court to Hear Pauline Hanson's Appeal Against Racial Discrimination Ruling over Faruqi Tweet

Australia's high court has agreed to hear Pauline Hanson's appeal against a ruling that she engaged in racial discrimination against Mehreen Faruqi when she told the Greens senator to 'pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan'.

The One Nation leader was granted special leave to appeal on Thursday, after the full federal court earlier this year unanimously upheld a 2024 decision.

The high court will examine whether Hanson's comments breached the Racial Discrimination Act or whether the federal court decision impeded her implied freedom of political communication.

Hanson welcomed the decision on social media, saying 'this case has always been bigger than me and bigger than one tweet'. The 72-year-old senator wrote that Australians must be able to speak their minds, question their government and disagree with each other without being frightened into silence, and that the freedom is under attack, including through Labor's digital duty of care bill and its threat to lawful debate online.

Faruqi said in a statement on Thursday: 'Bring it on.' She said it had been a long, hard road walked alongside everyone who has been targeted by racism, and that they would not be backing down now. The highest court in Australia could now determine once and for all that people in the country are protected against racism, she said, adding that people of colour, migrants and Muslims deserve to feel safe in the place they call home.

A spokesperson for the federal attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act was more important to Australia's social cohesion 'than ever'. As the matter is before the court, it would be inappropriate to comment further, the spokesperson said, adding that the Australian government's position is clear: there is no place for racism or racial hatred in society.

The dispute arose in 2022 after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Faruqi tweeted her condolences to those who knew the Queen, but said she could not mourn the leader of a racist empire built on the stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples, and spoke of the urgency of Treaty with First Nations, justice and reparations. Hanson replied that Faruqi's attitude appalled and disgusted her, that Faruqi had taken every advantage of Australia after immigrating — citizenship, multiple homes and a job in parliament — and that if she was not happy she should 'pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan'.

Justice Angus Stewart found in November 2024 that Hanson's tweet was unlawful and portrayed Faruqi as a 'second-class citizen' who took advantage of Australia and who, as a migrant, 'should be grateful for what she has and keep quiet' — a position he declared to be 'exclusionary'.

Stewart found Hanson's comment that Faruqi should 'piss off back to Pakistan' was a variant of the slogan 'go back to where you came from', which he said was a 'racist trope' and a 'strong form of racism'. He added that Hanson's tweet, given her profile, likely 'empowered others' to make similar or worse comments.

The judge rejected Hanson's arguments, including that Faruqi's tweet on the Queen's death justified her response. He found Hanson's tweet did not fall within the fair comment exemption because it was an 'angry, personal attack'.

Stewart's judgment was unanimously upheld in July this year by the three federal court judges Melissa Perry, Geoffrey Kennett and Elizabeth Bennett.