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The Full Federal Court unanimously rejected Pauline Hanson’s appeal against a finding that she racially discriminated against Senator Mehreen Faruqi, according to a decision handed down on July 27, 2026. Justices Melissa Perry, Geoffrey Kennett and Elizabeth Bennett upheld the earlier determination by Justice Michael Stewart that the tweet breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act as it was reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate Faruqi on the basis of her race, national or ethnic origin. The ruling requires Hanson to delete the post and pay Faruqi’s legal costs, a Reuters dispatch from Sydney confirmed. Hanson had argued her comment constituted protected political communication, yet the court found it amounted to an angry personal attack with anti-Muslim elements that invoked a recognised racist trope.
Faruqi initiated the case after Hanson’s response to her September 2022 social media post on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, in which the Greens deputy leader said she would not mourn the head of a “racist empire.” Hanson replied by telling Faruqi to “pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan,” the judgment detailed. The court described the remark as targeting Faruqi’s Muslim faith and Pakistani heritage, according to coverage by ABC News. Faruqi, who migrated from Pakistan, maintained the statement caused her distress and reflected broader patterns of vilification.
Senator Faruqi described the outcome as a victory against racism and Islamophobia in remarks carried by multiple Australian outlets. “Today’s win is for every single person who has been made to feel that their belonging in this country is conditional,” she said. Faruqi added, “This case was always about holding to account racism and holding to account those who perpetrate racism,” and “Hate speech is not free speech.” She further stated that the court had confirmed Hanson engaged in behaviour amounting to racism, Islamophobia and hate, as quoted in her public statements following the verdict.
Hanson expressed disappointment with the decision and signalled her plan to appeal to the High Court, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The One Nation founder has consistently framed such controversies as matters of free speech in political debate. This latest legal development continues a pattern in which her public comments have prompted scrutiny under anti-discrimination provisions.
A Guardian analysis noted that Hanson has rejected racism accusations throughout her decades in politics while advancing policies such as a ban on Muslim immigration and staging a 2017 parliamentary appearance in a burqa to highlight purported security concerns. These actions have established her as a leading voice in Australia’s right-wing populist movement, according to long-term coverage of her career. The current case originated from events nearly four years ago but gained renewed attention through the appeal process that concluded this week.
The Scanlon Foundation’s 2024 Mapping Social Cohesion research survey revealed 17 percent of Australians experienced discrimination based on skin colour, ethnic origin or religion in the prior 12 months, rising to 34 percent among those from non-English speaking backgrounds. Reconciliation Australia’s Barometer found that 54 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported at least one form of racial discrimination in the six months before its 2024 survey, an increase from 39 percent in 2014. The Australian Human Rights Commission has tracked rising complaints of racial vilification in recent years, providing context for the legal standards applied in the Hanson matter.
