Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi responded “no comment” when asked outside her defamation hearing whether all white people are racist.
Senator Faruqi is suing fellow Senator Pauline Hanson for $150,000 in damages over online comments the One Nation leader made in September 2022, telling her to “fuck back to Pakistan” following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Senator Hanson’s comments were prompted by the Greens deputy leader’s tweet in which she declared that she “cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on the stolen lives, lands and wealth of colonized peoples.”
Freelance journalist Chris De Bruyne approached Senator Faruqi outside the Federal Court in Sydney this week, where she gave a surprising answer to what he said should have been a simple question.
‘Are all white people racist?’ asked Mr. De Bruyne.
Senator Faruqi shook her head and responded “no comment.”
“That’s not a no,” Mr. De Bruyne insisted.
Senator Faruqi’s lawyer then advised him not to respond and the couple walked away.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi outside the Federal Court this week responded “no comment” when asked “are all white people racist?”
She is suing Pauline Hanson (pictured with her lawyer Sue Chrysanthou) for $150,000 in damages for what she claims was a racist tweet directed at her.
Senator Faruqi took action on Senator Hanson’s tweet after claiming it was racially discriminatory and sparked a “torrent” of nasty comments online.
He has accused Senator Hanson of violating section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which prohibits acts that offend, insult or humiliate a person because of their race, ethnicity or nationality.
This week he told the Federal Court that verbal attacks on white people in Australia are not racist because racism is “linked to power” and that “power… is held by white people” in this country.
“It’s linked to who has the power and who has the authority to perpetrate racism and oppress people,” Ms. Faruqi said when asked about comments her son, journalist Osman Faruqi, had made criticizing white people. .
“And in this country, the power of that lies with white people.”
Senator Hanson has accused Ms Faruqi of hypocrisy.
In his closing arguments to the Federal Court on Wednesday, Ms Faruqi’s lawyer, Saul Holt KC, called Senator Hanson “a prominent purveyor of hate speech” against people with immigrant characteristics.
“The words posted (in his tweet) were a version of a well-known racist and anti-immigrant phrase ‘go back to where you came from,'” he said.
“And they were clearly directed at a brown, Muslim, migrant senator.”
Senator Faruqi was born in Pakistan before emigrating to Australia, where she became Australia’s first Muslim senator in 2018.
Holt argued that the words sent “a clear message” about “the idea of banishment” and that Senator Faruqi was “of lesser status” due to her ethnicity.
“Being told… not to bite the hand that feeds you, is actually being told to shut up and stop engaging in controversial speeches because you are a migrant,” he said.
The court was told that Senator Faruqi had experienced psychological trauma and “extreme distress” after receiving the tweet from her Senate colleague and the avalanche of “bluntly disgusting” tweets from the public.
Senator Hanson’s suggestion that he should have been “taken seriously” revealed the debunked “myth” that public figures are “inoculated” from the effects of public criticism, Mr Holt said.
He argued that the impact of the tweet was “much more substantial” on Senator Faruqi because she already feels “excluded” and “other” as a result of being the first Muslim woman in parliament.
Senator Hanson played “with the person and not the ball” by “abusing a person versus an idea” in her tweet, Holt said.
Hanson wrote: ‘You gained citizenship, bought several houses and a job in a parliament. It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags and go to Pakistan.
He noted that the senator had not focused on the controversial message or words in Senator Faruqi’s initial tweet, but rather attacked her as a person with a “racially based slur.”
“This was a personal racist attack based on a response to a political tweet,” Holt said.
He argued that Senator Hanson’s well-documented history of “hostility” toward Muslims, Islam and Muslim immigration pointed to one conclusion.
“This tweet was (posted) due to the fact that Senator Faruqi is a Muslim woman of colour, as well as the fact that she happened to be from Pakistan,” Mr Holt said.
“It is, bluntly, classic racial hatred.
“(Senator Hanson) has never thought about the damage it could cause.”
However, Senator Hanson’s lawyer, Kieran Smark SC, refuted the allegations, arguing that his client had been engaging in political speech when he directed the tweet at his Greens colleague.
“There are two members of the Australian Senate, both doing public communications… and the issue is the death of the head of state,” he said.
“It’s hard to think of a clearer example of government issues and political issues.”
Senator Faruqi claimed Hanson’s tweet sparked a “torrent” of nasty comments online.
Chrysanthou focused on social media posts made by Faruqi’s son, journalist Osman Faruqi (pictured), which he told the court were offensive to white people, but Senator Faruqi argued that criticizing white people ” whites” was not racist.
Mr Smark claimed Senator Faruqi had “seized the occasion of the Queen’s death to promote nominated political causes” by pushing for Australia to become a republic within hours of the monarch’s death.
He argued that Senator Hanson had responded with a fair expression of her own opinion on a matter of public concern.
When asked about the personal nature of the tweet, Smark responded that politicians often use “powerful language” to convince the public of their opinion.
“When you respond to an attack, you can choose to respond to the attack or respond to the character of the accuser,” he said.
The court heard Senator Hanson had previously told another senator to return to where he came from when he appeared on a morning show in 2018.
The court was shown a clip of Senator Hanson telling then-Senator Derryn Hinch to “pack his bags and get on the next plane out of the country” back to New Zealand.
“Come back when you have good manners,” he chided his on-air colleague.
The video was turned over to the court after Senator Hanson was questioned on Tuesday about whether she had ever told a white person to return to their home country.
Smark will continue his closing remarks on Thursday after declaring Senator Hanson has “no responsibility” to the Greens deputy leader.
The court heard that Senator Faruqi was not seeking monetary sanctions, but rather an order for Senator Hanson to donate $150,000 to the Sweatshop Literacy Movement charity, attend anti-racism training and post an apology tweet.
Both senators have partially funded their legal fees through crowdfunding platforms.