Hanson's tweet 'unfit for afternoon tea but not racist'

Pauline Hanson was not driven by racism but rather a need to expose hypocrisy when she told a Greens senator to pack her bags and return to Pakistan.

That is the One Nation leader's argument as she challenges court findings she engaged in "seriously offensive" and intimidating behaviour toward Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi.

Senator Hanson's remarks in September 2022 - while not fit for an afternoon tea or the courtroom - were expected by Australian Twitter users accustomed to the argy-bargy of politicians, barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC argued during a Federal Court appeal hearing on Monday.

The court could not sit in an ivory tower without grappling with how Twitter users conducted themselves in 2022, often writing things they would not say in person, the barrister said.

Senator Hanson's post was an attack on Senator Faruqi's personal views on the death of Queen Elizabeth II and was not driven by her race, colour, national or ethnic origin, the barrister said.

The day of the Queen's death, Senator Faruqi took to Twitter, now known as X, to offer condolences to those who knew the monarch.

But she added she could not mourn the passing of the leader of a "racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples".

In a response, Senator Hanson said she was appalled and disgusted by the comments.

"When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country," she wrote.

"It's clear you're not happy, so pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan."

The court's finding these remarks actually intimidated Australian migrants of colour was extreme, Ms Chrysanthou told the court.

Senator Hanson's tweet was made following hours of posts by others making similar accusations against the Greens deputy leader, she said.

She pointed out Senator Faruqi's alleged hypocrisy by criticising the country while deciding to immigrate here, buying property and living off taxpayer-funded income as a senator, the barrister said.

In finding the One Nation leader had engaged in racism, Justice Angus Stewart failed to take this context into account, the court was told.

The Greens' then-leader Adam Bandt had also been told to get out of Australia after he called for a republic on the day the Queen died, Ms Chrysanthou pointed out.

Senator Hanson's post also did not refer to any ethnic group, for instance saying "Piss off back to Pakistan and so should everyone else from Pakistan."

"It's not necessarily a racially motivated reason to say to that person, 'Why don't you just leave? If you don't like it here, leave'," Ms Chrysanthou said.

Hanson's tweet was found to have breached 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act - a clause that has survived repeated efforts by conservative politicians to strike it out.

In his November 2024 findings, Justice Stewart found that migrants of colour, Australians who had recently immigrated, or Muslims who were people of colour in Australia would be insulted, offended, humiliated and intimidated by the tweet.

"It is a message that Senator Faruqi is, as an immigrant, a second-class citizen, and that she should be grateful for what she has and keep quiet," he said in his Federal Court ruling.

The phrase "go back to where you came from" was a racist, anti-immigrant and nativist trope traceable to the White Australia Policy, the judge declared.

The appeal hearing continues.