It’s not nice, not polite, but not racist: Hanson’s lawyer defends One Nation leader

2 weeks ago 5

A tweet by Pauline Hanson telling Greens legislator Mehreen Faruqi to “piss disconnected backmost to Pakistan” was “not nice” but it did not autumn foul of radical favoritism laws, the One Nation senator’s barrister has told a court.

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 Federal Court proceedings earlier Justice Angus Stewart started successful Sydney connected Monday and is expected to reason connected Thursday.

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

Faruqi, an Australian national 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.

Kieran Smark, SC, the pb barrister acting for Hanson, said successful closing submissions successful the Federal Court connected Thursday that Hanson was not telling Faruqi virtually to “go backmost to wherever you came from”.

“We accidental it’s a rhetorical device,” helium said.

“There’s nary past … betwixt these senators. They conscionable don’t person a past betwixt them. They don’t person an antagonistic history, and they don’t person a collegiate history.”

Smark said Hanson “undoubtedly ... could person expressed herself otherwise and much reasonably, and successful a mode that the tribunal would find much acceptable”.

“I mean the tribunal [as an institution], not your honour personally,” helium told the judge.

“It’s not nice. It’s not a bully tweet. It wasn’t a polite tweet. It wasn’t meant to beryllium a polite tweet. Senator Hanson was aggravated and she thought she had crushed to beryllium angry, and she wanted readers … to beryllium alert of her choler and the crushed why, oregon the reasons why.”

The tribunal has heard Hanson’s remark connected X was a effect to a station by the Greens senator, who had 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 posted successful reply: “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.”

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.

But 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.

Smark submitted connected Thursday that the exemption “is satisfied successful this case” and that Hanson acted successful bully faith. He said the One Nation person was pointing retired that Faruqi had “received the benefits from Australia, from the system, which she was now, connected the decease of the Queen, attacking”.

The justice said: “Senator Hanson said that she was calling retired hypocrisy, but I’m struggling to recognize wherefore that’s hypocrisy.

“Senator Hanson herself is outspokenly captious of authorities argumentation and aspects of Australian society. That doesn’t marque her a hypocrite. That doesn’t marque her un-Australian.

“Why is it hypocritical of idiosyncratic other to beryllium captious of aspects of Australia oregon its history, unless it’s due to the fact that they’re from determination other and they’re not really invited here?” Stewart asked.

Smark said that “the hypocrisy was successful breaking, I don’t privation to telephone it a taboo, but the well-understood normal that you wouldn’t onslaught people, fto unsocial idiosyncratic similar the Queen, wrong hours of her death”.

Stewart suggested it appeared the tweet was not an onslaught connected the Queen but the institution, prompting Smark to accidental it would beryllium unfastened to reason that Faruqi was being “disingenuous” erstwhile she offered her condolences successful the archetypal enactment of her tweet “to those who knew the Queen”.

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.

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