One Nation leader Pauline Hanson will take her legal battle over Australia’s racial discrimination laws to the High Court after being granted special leave to appeal a ruling that she racially vilified Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi.

The appeal will challenge the constitutional validity of provisions of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, including section 18C, which makes it unlawful to publicly engage in conduct reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate, or intimidate someone because of their race, colour, national, or ethnic origin.

The ongoing court case arises from a 22024 Federal Court finding that Hanson engaged in unlawful racial discrimination after telling Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi on social media platform X to “[expletive] off back to Pakistan.”

The exchange unfolded in 2022 after Faruqi posted that she would not mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

In July, Hanson had an appeal against the original finding dismissed by the Federal Court.

However, on Nov. 5, the High Court confirmed it had granted Hanson special leave to appeal her section 18C case.

“This case has always been bigger than me and bigger than one tweet,” she said in a post on X.

“Australians must be able to speak their minds, question their government, and disagree with each other without being frightened into silence.

“I look forward to putting our arguments to the court about freedom of speech and the constitutional protection of political communication.”

In a statement, Faruqi maintained that Hanson had racially vilified her.

“She is now arguing that 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which protects against racist hate, is not constitutionally valid,” she said.

“The highest court in the country now has the opportunity to once and for all determine that people in this country are protected against racism.”

A date for the High Court hearing has not yet been set.

The Exchange on X

The legal battle originated when Faruqi tweeted about her decision not to mourn the death of the Queen.

“I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land, and wealth of colonised peoples,” Faruqi wrote.

“We are reminded of the urgency of treaty with first nations, justice, and reparations for British colonies and becoming a republic.”

Hanson responded, writing that Faruqi’s attitude disgusted her.

“When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country,” she wrote.

“You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and got into parliament.

“It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags, and [expletive] off back to Pakistan.”