Overview
- The Full Court in Sydney opened a multi-day hearing on Pauline Hanson's challenge to a 2024 finding that her tweet breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
- Hanson's counsel argued the reply targeted Mehreen Faruqi's post calling the monarchy a 'racist empire' and reflected combative Twitter norms rather than racial motive.
- The defence said many users posted near-identical reactions and urged the court to weigh the online context in assessing whether the Act was contravened.
- Justice Geoffrey Kennett said others' conduct was irrelevant if the Act was breached, and Justice Elizabeth Bennett questioned why the message was public rather than a direct message.
- Justice Angus Stewart had ruled the tweet invoked a racist 'go back' trope tied to White Australia, implied Faruqi was a second-class citizen, and ordered the post deleted with costs.