Pauline Hanson revealed she retired from the world after losing a defamation case brought by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, but vowed to fight the decision on behalf of all Australians.
The One Nation leader was dealt a devastating blow when a judge found earlier this month that she had racially vilified Ms Faruqi when she told her to “fuck back to Pakistan” in a tweet.
The federal court ruled that the tweet was racist, that Senator Hanson must remove it and that she must pay Senator Faruqi’s legal fees after she launched defamation action on September 9, 2022.
The judge found Ms Hanson’s tweet to be unlawful under Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act and refused to make Ms Faruqi’s proposed orders that the One Nation leader pay $150,000 to a charity or received anti-racism training.
However, Ms Hanson will take the case to the Court of Appeal as she seeks to make her fight a test case for all Australians.
On Wednesday, Hanson said she was “devastated” after the interview, having previously broken down and claimed Australia “is not the country I grew up in.”
“I basically locked myself away for a couple of days,” he said. Sky News Australia host Chris Kenny.
“I just had to get my strength back and realize ‘okay, get up, dust yourself off, I can’t go anywhere, I have to fight this.'”
One Nation leader Paul Hanson has revealed he has retired from the world after losing a defamation case brought by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi.
Senator Faruqi outside the court after her victory. Senator Hanson was ordered to remove the tweet and pay legal costs. So far he has raised more than $650,000 for an appeal.
“It’s not about Pauline Hanson anymore. This is about people’s freedom of expression in this nation, we have the right to have an opinion and by all means they are trying to shut it down.’
Hanson, who has raised more than $650,000 to help fund her appeal, said she was grateful for the “overwhelming” amount of support she had received since the court ruling.
“My office phones never stop ringing, whether it’s my parliamentary office or Queensland head office,” he said.
“The letters, wishes of support and prayers have been very welcome.”
In a scathing ruling, Judge Angus Stewart found Hanson engaged in “seriously offensive” and intimidating behavior with the tweet.
On the day of Queen Elizabeth’s death, Faruqi took to Twitter, now known as X, to offer his condolences to those who knew the monarch.
But he added that he could not mourn the death of the leader of a “racist empire built on the stolen lives, lands and wealth of colonized peoples.”
In response, Hanson said she was shocked and disgusted by the comments.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said the tweet sparked a “torrent of racist abuse” and launched the smear in the Federal Court.
“When you emigrated to Australia, you took advantage of all the advantages of this country,” he wrote.
“It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags and go to Pakistan.”
Judge Stewart said this publication was different and exclusionary.
“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 remain silent,” she said in her Federal Court ruling.
The phrase “go back to where you came from” was a racist, anti-immigrant and nativist trope dating back to the White Australia Policy, the judge noted.
Immigrants and other Muslims would have been offended, insulted, humiliated and intimidated by the tweet, he said.
“It is a strong form of racism,” Judge Stewart said.
It found that Senator Hanson had a decades-long tendency to make negative, derogatory, discriminatory or hateful statements against people of color, immigrants and Muslims.
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.
Similarly, he dismissed arguments that the post was a fair comment in a political discussion about the Greens MP’s alleged hypocrisy in criticizing the monarchy while benefiting from life in Australia.
But on Wednesday, Hanson reiterated his argument that neither Faruqi’s skin color nor his Islamic faith influenced his post.
“Let me also point out that, in the 18th century, religion didn’t come into play, so the fact that she was Muslim had absolutely nothing to do with it,” Ms Hanson said.
“Then (the judge) said that since she came from Pakistan, which is a Muslim country, he was basically trying to attack her.
“I don’t care about the color of a person’s skin or their religion, it has nothing to do with it.”
Hanson also claimed there were many messages from other Australians who “also felt insulted by his tweet, not by me”.