Australian court rejects Pauline Hanson racism appeal

A full bench of the Federal Court of Australia has unanimously rejected an appeal by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, upholding a 2024 ruling that she racially discriminated against Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi. The decision on Monday, July 27, 2026, found that Hanson's 2022 social media post telling Faruqi to "piss off back to Pakistan" was unlawful and not protected by free speech defences.

The three-judge panel affirmed the original judgment by Justice Angus Stewart, which declared the comment breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. That section prohibits acts reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate, or intimidate a person or group because of their race, colour, or national or ethnic origin. The court found the post was a racist trope, anti-Muslim, and conveyed that Faruqi, an Australian citizen who migrated from Pakistan in 1992, was a second-class citizen who should be grateful and keep quiet.

The exchange originated on September 9, 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Senator Faruqi posted on social media that she could not mourn "the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples." Hanson responded...