Overview
- Pauline Hanson’s three-day appeal opened in the Federal Court in Sydney as she seeks to overturn a 2024 finding that her 2022 tweet breached the Racial Discrimination Act.
- Hanson’s barrister argued the post targeted perceived hypocrisy over comments about the Queen, framed it as routine political exchange on X, and said it was not driven by race.
- Judges queried the reliance on broader online reactions and questioned the claim that social-media norms diminish the conduct’s impact.
- The earlier ruling by Justice Angus Stewart found the tweet echoed a racist ‘go back’ trope, ordered the post deleted, and required Hanson to pay Mehreen Faruqi’s legal costs.
- Hanson is also pressing an implied freedom of political communication argument, and the Full Court has reserved its decision.