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https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...ing-heated-court-hearing-20240430-p5fnmb.html
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been grilled in court about her public statements on Muslim people, including her claim that Islam is “a disease”, as Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi sues her over a tweet telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Faruqi, a Muslim who migrated to Australia from Pakistan in 1992, is suing Hanson under racial discrimination laws in response to the comment on Twitter, now X, which was posted on September 9, 2022. The Federal Court trial before Justice Angus Stewart started in Sydney on Monday.
Faruqi, the deputy leader of the Greens, is seeking court orders requiring Hanson to delete the post, attend anti-racism training at her own cost and make a $150,000 donation to a charity chosen by Faruqi.
Hanson gave evidence on Tuesday. Saul Holt, KC, acting for Faruqi, played Hanson a clip from Seven’s Sunrise program in 2010, in which the One Nation senator was asked if she would sell her home to a Muslim person. She said no on air, adding that she did not believe “they are compatible with our way of life”.
Asked repeatedly in court if she meant what she had said, Hanson initially said the question was “irrelevant” because she didn’t sell her house. Later, she said: “Probably not.” She added that she was opposed to fundamentalist and extremist ideology.
Hanson agreed that she had also said in 2017 that “Islam is a disease” and “we need to vaccinate ourselves against that”. But she disagreed that she had advocated for a full ban on Muslim immigration to Australia, saying that it might be her “personal opinion” but “it’s not in my policy booklet”.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi leaving court on Monday.Credit: Nick Moir
The court was also played a clip from Nine’s A Current Affair in 2017, in which Hanson suggested it might be difficult to identify a fundamentalist or extremist from other Muslims because “you line up a number of Muslims; who’s the good one?”
The court heard that her 2018 book, Pauline: In Her Own Words, said that “there is no sign saying ‘good Muslim’ or ‘bad Muslim’.”
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been grilled in court about her public statements on Muslim people, including her claim that Islam is “a disease”, as Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi sues her over a tweet telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Faruqi, a Muslim who migrated to Australia from Pakistan in 1992, is suing Hanson under racial discrimination laws in response to the comment on Twitter, now X, which was posted on September 9, 2022. The Federal Court trial before Justice Angus Stewart started in Sydney on Monday.
Faruqi, the deputy leader of the Greens, is seeking court orders requiring Hanson to delete the post, attend anti-racism training at her own cost and make a $150,000 donation to a charity chosen by Faruqi.
Hanson gave evidence on Tuesday. Saul Holt, KC, acting for Faruqi, played Hanson a clip from Seven’s Sunrise program in 2010, in which the One Nation senator was asked if she would sell her home to a Muslim person. She said no on air, adding that she did not believe “they are compatible with our way of life”.
Asked repeatedly in court if she meant what she had said, Hanson initially said the question was “irrelevant” because she didn’t sell her house. Later, she said: “Probably not.” She added that she was opposed to fundamentalist and extremist ideology.
Hanson agreed that she had also said in 2017 that “Islam is a disease” and “we need to vaccinate ourselves against that”. But she disagreed that she had advocated for a full ban on Muslim immigration to Australia, saying that it might be her “personal opinion” but “it’s not in my policy booklet”.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi leaving court on Monday.Credit: Nick Moir
The court was also played a clip from Nine’s A Current Affair in 2017, in which Hanson suggested it might be difficult to identify a fundamentalist or extremist from other Muslims because “you line up a number of Muslims; who’s the good one?”
The court heard that her 2018 book, Pauline: In Her Own Words, said that “there is no sign saying ‘good Muslim’ or ‘bad Muslim’.”
