One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has defended telling a senator to “f*** off back to Pakistan” after a Federal Court found she racially vilified the Greens member.
Senator Hanson’s legal team has lodged an appeal against the sentence, saying his sledging against Mehreen Faruqi was not racist as he previously told another senator to “go back” to New Zealand.
His team also claimed that Senator Hanson’s comment could not be considered a racial slur as he did not mention Senator Mehreen’s skin color.
The news comes after Senator Hanson lashed out furiously in the Senate on Wednesday, when a parliamentary colleague called her a “disgrace to the human race”.
Senator Fatima Payman, who left the Labor Party to set up her own party earlier this year, lashed out at the One Nation leader, accusing her of racism and claiming she spread hate and division in an intense exchange that made headlines across the whole country.
But what caused the explosion?
Senator Hanson had submitted a paper questioning whether Senator Payman’s Afghan citizenship disqualified her from serving in parliament.
Section 44c of the Australian constitution prevents anyone who holds the citizenship of another country from sitting in parliament.
Senator Pauline Hanson (pictured) had submitted a document questioning whether Senator Payman’s Afghan citizenship disqualified her from serving in parliament.
Senator Fatima Payman (pictured), who left the Labor Party to set up her own party earlier this year, lashed out at the One Nation leader, accusing her of racism and claiming she spread hate and division in an intense exchange that made headlines throughout the country.
Senator Payman was born in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, but obtained Australian citizenship in 2005.
However, this did not automatically revoke his Afghan citizenship, raising questions about his eligibility to hold a Senate seat.
Senator Payman claims she contacted the Afghan embassy in Australia in October 2021 to renounce her Afghan citizenship but they were unable to do so because they had no relationship with the new Taliban government.
However, Senator Payman received legal advice from the Labor Party that she had taken “all reasonable steps” to revoke her foreign citizenship and was eligible.
On Wednesday, Senator Payman lashed out at the One Nation leader in parliament, suggesting she “go to Afghanistan and talk to the Taliban about this”.
“All Senator Hanson has done in this place is spread hate and division,” said Senator Payman.
“I’m very honored to be living rent-free in Senator Hanson’s mind, but I think you have better things to do than worry about Section 44.”
Senator Hanson responded by insisting that Senator Payman’s “eligibility to sit in the Australian Senate remains under a cloud.”
He said the strict standards applied to elected representatives during the 2017 electability crisis, in which 15 politicians lost their seats because they held dual citizenship, had not been applied to Payman.
“If she had been elected in 2016 instead of 2022, she would have been referred to the High Court like everyone else,” Senator Hanson said.
“If she had been elected Conservative in 2022, I suspect she would be referred straight away.”
The One Nation leader criticized the Greens for attempting to block the submission of documents raising concerns about Senator Payman’s electability.
‘The Greens have never respected our Constitution. “Marxists always despise the institutions of democracy,” he said.
“I’m sure they would love to dismantle the Constitution and replace it with some version of the communist manifesto.”
Senator Hanson called on Senator Payman to provide “much more evidence” of her attempts to revoke her Afghan citizenship, arguing that failure to do so would set a “dangerous precedent.”
“There is a very good reason why the architects of our Constitution required that our elected representatives have undivided loyalties,” said Senator Hanson.
“It is also the expectation of the Australian people that no foreign national or dual citizen should be allowed to occupy the seat of our democracy.”
Her comments came after Senator Payman accused her of racism by listing previous comments made by Senator Hanson, including his first speech in which he said Australia was “in danger of being swamped by Asians” and that “Aboriginality is already would not exist” if his party was in power.
‘If that’s not racist, what is?’ Senator Payman shouted as she slammed her fist on the table in the Senate.
Independent Ralph Babet could be seen over Senator Payman’s shoulder, trying to contain his surprise at the outburst.
‘Oh, isn’t that racist?’ – Senator Payman added sarcastically.
‘Someone bring the dictionary because Senator Hanson doesn’t know the definition of racism.
‘The fact that you said just a few weeks ago to Senator Faruqi: “Go back to Pakistan”; Not only are you vindictive, evil and nasty, but you bring misfortune to the human race. There is no dignity as a senator in this prestigious place.
Lidia Thorpe was heard repeatedly shouting: “You’re a convicted racist!”
Senator Pauline Hanson is appealing the verdict that racially vilified Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi (pictured)
Senator Hanson, who was sitting near Senator Payman, calmly asked the Senate President to drop the accusation of racism.
After the president reminded her that accusing someone of being a racist was a violation of current rules, Senator Payman reluctantly withdrew her comments.
‘For the benefit of this chamber I will retire, but you know what, Senator Hanson? How do you live with yourself, Senator Hanson, with so much violent hatred? she asked.
Senator Hanson justified her actions in a lengthy post Tuesday night.
“Senator Payman is likely using her position in the Senate to automatically register a political party, one that can influence the outcome of the upcoming federal election,” the One Nation leader wrote.
And yet, Senator Payman may not be eligible to serve in the Senate.
“The Prime Minister’s failure to take appropriate action risks undermining the integrity of our elections and the confidence of the Australian people in the integrity of our parliament.”
As for his legal battle with Senator Faruqi, Senator Hanson is using nearly $700,000 donated by his supporters to help fund his impressive legal team.
She will be represented by prominent lawyer Sue Chrysathanou and her lawyer Anthony Jeffries, who is also representing Lisa Wilkinson in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial.
Judge Angus Stewart’s November 1 ruling found that Senator Hanson’s post on X, formerly Twitter, breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act and was an “angry personal attack” and conveyed a “strong form of racism” .
However, Senator Hanson’s attack was not racist as it was “only directed at Senator Faruqi, there is no explicit or implicit reference to color.”
“It was not stated or told to Senator Hanson that Hanson’s tweet was directed at immigrants (in general) and ‘people of color,'” defense documents seen by news.com.au fixed.
Pictured: Senator Hanson can be seen crossing in front of Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, who repeatedly shouted ‘you are a convicted racist!’ during Senator Payman’s fiery dew
Senator Hanson’s team also pushed back against accusations that the position was anti-Muslim.
“The chief judge was wrong to find that Hanson’s tweet targets Muslims and conveys an anti-Muslim message, in circumstances where there was not a single implicit or explicit reference to Islam in Hanson’s tweet,” he said.
‘…The chief judge erred in finding that Hanson’s tweet was, in all the circumstances, reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate and intimidate groups of people in reference to the groups “people of color who are immigrants in Australia or Australians of relatively recent migrant heritage” and “Muslims who are people of color in Australia”.
“None of these groups were defended by Senator Faruqi, and Senator Hanson was not notified that these groups would be the subject of adverse findings against him until the publication of the ruling.”
Senator Payman broke ranks with the Labor Party in May this year, accusing her former party of failing to respond adequately to Israel’s alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
He later created his own party called Australia’s Voice in October.