Pauline Hanson's final defence in racial slur lawsuit
A judge is set to hear further submissions by lawyers for Pauline Hanson as to why a comment by the One Nation leader telling a rival Greens senator to go back to Pakistan was not a racial attack.
The Federal Court has already heard three days of evidence and arguments in a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi.
Today, Senator Hanson's barrister Kieran Smark SC will continue his final submissions as to why the case against his client should fail.
Senator Faruqi is suing over a September 2022 tweet by the One Nation head sent on the day Queen Elizabeth II passed away.
The Greens deputy had tweeted that she could not mourn the passing of the leader of a "racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples".
Senator Hanson responded, saying she was appalled and disgusted with the Greens senator's comments, telling her to "pack [her] bags and piss off back to Pakistan".
Due to this "classical racist hatred," Senator Faruqi is seeking orders from the court that her One Nation rival be prohibited from uttering phrases similar to "go back to where you came from".
She is also seeking orders Senator Hanson pay $165,000 to a western Sydney charity that assists Indigenous Australians and non-English speakers.
Smark began his closing arguments on Wednesday afternoon, saying that his client's tweet had related to political topics such as colonialism.
He argued that it was the nature of Australian politics that offensive and insulting things were said.
"Politics involves the deployment of rhetoric, powerful language, emotion, all with a view to persuading the audience towards a particular view," he told the court.
The court will also hear submissions from lawyers representing the Commonwealth against submissions by Senator Hanson that certain provisions of the Racial Discrimination Act conflict with the Constitution and should be torn up.
After that, Justice Angus Stewart would retire to consider his decision.
