One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has won her bid to have the nation’s top court hear her appeal against a court ruling that she racially vilified a Greens senator.
Senator Hanson sought special leave to appeal to the High Court over a racial discrimination law she says prevents Australians from speaking their minds for fear they will be labelled racist and face legal action.
Her appeal came after the full Federal Court upheld she subjected Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to racist hate speech by telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan” in a social media post.
Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate someone because of their race, colour or national or ethnic origin.
On Thursday, the High Court determined she had special leave to appeal the Federal Court decision.
Senator Hanson said Australians should be able to speak their minds and disagree “without being frightened into silence”.
“This case has always been bigger than me and bigger than one tweet,” she said in a social media post.
Senator Faruqi welcomed the latest courtroom showdown, adding the nation’s legal system needed to be able to provide protection against vilification.
“Bring it on,” she said in a statement.
“This has been a long, hard road walked alongside everyone who has been targeted by racism,” she said.
“We won’t be backing down now. The highest court in Australia can now determine once and for all that people in this country are protected against racism.
“People of colour, migrants and Muslims deserve to feel safe in the place they call home.”
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
