Pauline Hanson grilled in bitter hate speech trial

The evidence has been given and closing arguments will begin in a bitter lawsuit accusing Senator Pauline Hanson of hate speech on the day Queen Elizabeth II died.

The One Nation leader is being sued for racial discrimination by NSW Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi.

In September 2022, Faruqi tweeted that she could not mourn the passing of the Queen as the leader of a "racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples".

Both politicians have faced a grilling over two days in the Federal Court as parties dispute the reason for Hanson's response and the extent of any hurt felt by Faruqi.

Justice Angus Stewart is due to hear closing arguments before retiring to consider the judgment.

The One Nation head says she sent the tweet to criticise her political rival's conduct rather than because of her race, colour or ethnicity.

Yesterday, she told the court she did not know Faruqi was a Muslim at the time she made the post.

In a bid to prove Hanson had racist tendencies, video clips spanning 30 years were shown in court.

In this footage, she compared Islam to a virus which had to be vaccinated against, claimed Muslims were secretly infiltrating governments and said it was difficult to tell a good Muslim from a bad one.

The Greens deputy leader spoke on Monday of the hurt she had felt because of the tweet and denied allegations she had merely brought the lawsuit to push her political agenda.

The court has been given evidence from three experts regarding the negative effects of racism and the history of the phrase, "Go back to where you came from".

Affidavits have also been given by nine individuals from different minority groups regarding how they felt when they saw Hanson's tweet.