Pauline Hanson broke down in tears during her first interview since losing a defamation case brought by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi.
The One Nation leader said Australia “is not the country” she “grew up” in after a judge found she had racially vilified Ms Faruqi when she told her to “go back to Pakistan” in a tweet.
The federal court ruled on Friday that the tweet was racist, that Senator Hanson had to delete it and that she had to pay Senator Faruqi’s legal costs after she launched the defamation action. on September 9, 2022.
The judge refused to issue an order proposed by Senator Faruqi that Senator Hanson would pay $150,000 to charity or undergo anti-racism training.
Senator Hanson appeared deeply affected by Judge Angus Stewart’s ruling that her response was unlawful under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
‘I just feel like the country has changed so much, in such a way that people can’t say what they think anymore. The thought police are there,” she said Sky News host Andrew Bolt.
‘It’s not the country I grew up in. People may criticize my comment, but I have never changed since I first entered politics almost thirty years ago.
“I think the decision made was unfair, unjust and a bit difficult, but I’m not going to give up. I’m going to appeal it, I’m going to fight this.’
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has broken down in tears during an interview after a judge ruled her post telling a rival senator to ‘go back to Pakistan’ was racist
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said the tweet caused a “torrent of racist abuse” and caused defamation in the Federal Court.
In a damning judgment, Judge Angus Stewart ruled that Senator Hanson engaged in ‘seriously offensive’ and intimidating behavior with the tweet.
On the day of Queen Elizabeth’s death, Senator Faruqi, now known as X, took to Twitter to express his condolences to those who knew the monarch.
But she added that she could not mourn the death of the leader of a “racist empire built on stolen lives, lands and wealth from colonized peoples.”
Responding, Senator Hanson said she was shocked and disgusted by the comments.
“When you emigrated to Australia you took advantage of all the advantages of this country,” she wrote.
“It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags and go back to Pakistan.”
Judge Stewart said this message was derogatory and exclusionary.
“It sends a message that Senator Faruqi, as an immigrant, is a second-class citizen, and she should be grateful for what she has and keep her mouth shut,” he said in his Federal Court ruling.
The phrase “go back to where you came from” was a racist, anti-immigrant and nativist trope that traced back to the White Australia Policy, the judge noted.
Migrants and other Muslims would have been offended, offended, humiliated and intimidated by the tweet, he said.
“It’s a strong form of racism,” Judge Stewart said.
He found that for decades, Senator Hanson had a tendency to make negative, derogatory, discriminatory or hateful statements against people of color, immigrants and Muslims.
Senator Hanson claimed the decision gave her the view that Australia is ‘not the same country’ she ‘grew up’ in and that it was an attack on freedom of speech
Senator Faruqi outside the court after her victory. Senator Hanson was ordered to delete the tweet and pay legal costs
Judge Stewart rejected the One Nation leader’s claim that she did not know her Greens rival was Muslim at the time of the tweet.
He similarly rejected arguments that the post was a fair comment in a political discussion about the Greens MP’s alleged hypocrisy in criticizing the monarchy while profiting from life in Australia.
Her claims that parts of the Racial Discrimination Act breached the implied constitutional right to political communication were also rejected.
Judge Stewart said the law prevented some topics from being discussed by politicians, but this restriction was minor and served to protect the public from hatred and discrimination which could in itself silence the vulnerable.
He was also highly critical of the One Nation leader as a witness, calling her generally unreliable, argumentative and unwilling to accept obvious truths.
“I got the distinct impression that Senator Hanson would say anything that came to mind if she thought it would suit her at the time; she paid little attention to whether what she said was true or false,” he said.
In a statement, the Greens deputy leader said the decision was a victory for everyone who was told to go back where they came from.
“And believe me, far too many of us have been subjected to this ultimate racial slur far too often in this country,” she said.
She said the verdict set a precedent for how racism would be viewed in Australia, and said it was time the One Nation leader faced consequences for her comments.