Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner has welcomed the decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court, which upheld the finding that One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson unlawfully breached the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) with her comments directed at Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi.
Senator Hanson launched the appeal in November 2024, after Justice Angus Stewart found a 2022 social media post by Senator Hanson was contrary to section 18C of the RDA.
The Full Federal Court today dismissed her appeal, deciding Senator Hanson's post was reasonably likely to have been "profoundly and seriously offensive, insulting, humiliating and intimidating" to Senator Faruqi and to "people of colour who are migrants to Australia or are Australians of relatively recent migrant heritage, and Muslims who are people of colour in Australia."
'This is a landmark decision,' Commissioner Sivaraman said.
'For years, the RDA rightly protected Jewish and Sikh people from racial discrimination and vilification, but there has been uncertainty about how the law applies where people experience racism through overlapping aspects of their identity.
'The Court has now provided much-needed clarity, strengthening protections against racism and helping build a more inclusive Australia, one where we are all safe and respected. This is a particularly important decision at a time of alarming increases in racism towards migrants.'
In this matter, Commissioner Sivaraman appeared as a friend of the court, or amicus curiae, to assist the Court on legal questions concerning the RDA's interpretation.
In its judgment, the Full Federal Court said: "The issue of intersectionality was the subject of helpful submissions by the Race Discrimination Commissioner, which drew attention to a long history of learning around the nature of identity and intersectional discrimination."
The primary judge correctly found that "Senator Hanson's anti-Muslim comments were … directed at Muslims as immigrants and as being different to Senator Hanson's conception of what it is to be Australian". In the circumstances of this case, "Senator Hanson's anti-Muslim rhetoric was directed at Muslims because of their race, colour and immigrant status, as much as because of their religion".
'This decision reflects the reality of how discrimination and vilification are experienced in the real world,' Commissioner Sivaraman said.
'Everyone has different characteristics that make up who they are. For many people, their cultural, ethnic and religious identities are deeply interconnected. They cannot always be separated, and people are often targeted for multiple reasons at once.
'The Court has recognised that racism can manifest in complex and overlapping ways, and that the law is capable of responding to those realities.'
