High Court to hear Pauline Hanson's appeal over Mehreen Faruqi ruling
Australia's High Court has agreed to hear an appeal by Pauline Hanson, the leader of One Nation, against a ruling that she engaged in racial discrimination against Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi. The court granted Hanson special leave to appeal on Thursday, 5 November 2026. Special leave is the High Court's permission for a case to go before it, and it is reported by The Guardian.
The dispute began in 2022, after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Responding to a tweet from Faruqi, Hanson told her to "pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan". The tweet at the centre of the case was posted in September 2022.
In November 2024, Justice Angus Stewart of the Federal Court found that the tweet was unlawful racial discrimination. Earlier in 2026, the Full Federal Court unanimously upheld that decision. The Full Court decision is cited as Hanson v Faruqi [2026] FCAFC 96.
The High Court will examine two questions. The first is whether Hanson's comments breached the Racial Discrimination Act, a federal law against racial discrimination. The second is whether the Federal Court decision impeded her implied freedom of speech, a protection the courts have read into the Constitution. Faruqi is a Greens senator, and the case has been before the courts since the Federal Court hearing in 2024.
