One Nation leader Pauline Hanson will take the stand in a defamation trial against another senator as she fronts accusations of racism.
Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi launched defamation proceedings in 2023 against Senator Hanson on the grounds of racial discrimination after the pair clashed online.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 9, 2022 Senator Faruqi tweeted: “I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples”.
Senator Hanson tweeted back condemning Senator Faruqi’s statement and telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Senator Faruqi first took Senator Hanson to the Human Rights Commission over the tweet, before suing the One Nation leader.
The five-day hearing, now before Justice Angus Morkel Stewart, began on Monday.
Senator Hanson has enlisted SC Sue Chrysanthou, known for representing former Attorney-General Christian Porter and Channel 10’s Lisa Wilkinson. Senator Faruqi’s representation is led by Saul Holt KC, barrister Jessie Taylor and the firm Marque Lawyers.
Both senators attended Sydney’s Federal Court on Monday, with Senator Faruqi coming under cross-examination. Senator Hanson is slated to do the same either late on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Her testimony comes less than a year after her appeal victory in separate defamation proceedings between herself and former One Nation member Brian Burston. In 2003 Senator Hanson was jailed for electoral fraud on charges that were quickly overturned.
Prior to Senator Hanson’s testimony, Deakin University Race Relations professor Yin Paradies will take the stand. Prof Paradies’ scholarly writings were previously lodged as evidence to illustrate the negative health effects of racism.
In Mr Holt’s opening statement he argued Senator Hanson’s tweet “was making a brown, Muslim migrant into a lesser person” which precipitated a “torrent of abuse”.
“The tweet added to years and years of experiencing racist speech and racist acts,” he said.
“This was different. It came from a colleague, it came publicly and it unleashed, as she expected it would the moment she saw it, a torrent of abuse.”
Ms Chrysanthou’s responding statement sought to prove Senator Faruqi “intended to elicit a reaction” when she made her initial comments and Senator Hanson was not responsible for the barrage of public comments made against her.
Senator Faruqi’s evidence also includes a number of lay-affidavits sourced from an online survey, scholarly material on the health impacts of racism and “tendency material” made up of previous quotes of Senator Hanson that Senator Faruqi says illustrates a history of racial prejudice.
Ms Chrysanthou in March argued the wide scope of evidence from the plaintiff amounted to a “Royal Commission” into Senator Hanson, and had too wide a scope.
With Senator Faruqi on the stand, Ms Chrysanthou posited that the Greens senator was “a hypocrite and only against certain forms of racism”.
Ms Chrysanthou presented the senator with a tweet from her son, Osman Faruqi, demeaning “mediocre white people”, her denigration of a “white feminist”, and instances of public commentators contending Senator Faruqi showed anti-Zionism or anti-Semitism since the Israel-Gaza conflict began.
“One might think, on reading (Senator Faruqi’s initial) tweet at the time and on the day it was posted, that it was intended to elicit a reaction,” the silk said.
“If a person enters the fray in such a provocative way they expect and seek out a response.”
Senator Faruqi had questioned her advocacy and Australian identity since Hanson’s remark, the court heard.
“I look at every single word that I say to try and avoid the same sort of backlash that Senator Hanson unleashed,” Senator Faruqi said in her cross-examination.
The Greens senator detailed in her affidavit her accessing the parliamentary workplace support service for more than a year since Ms Hanson’s statement, and taking a “mental health day” in the aftermath.
In court on Monday, the date of this day off was called into question after discovery could not uncover documents supporting the statement. Senator Faruqi alleged that this was because Senators “hardly take days off” and were not required to submit leave applications.
Both senators have partially funded their legal fees through crowd-funding.
Senator Faruqi called for a $150,000 donation from Senator Hanson to the Sweatshop Literacy Movement and an apology among her sought damages.