Mehreen Faruqi’s racial discrimination complaint against Pauline Hanson over her “piss off back to Pakistan” tweet has been accepted by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
The commission will determine whether the tweet constituted racial discrimination and racial hatred under the Racial Discrimination Act.
“I’m glad the Human Rights Commission has accepted my complaint. Racism must be held to account,” Faruqi tweeted on Friday morning.
She told Guardian Australia she hoped at least for an apology from Hanson.
“For too long, Senator Hanson has been allowed to perpetrate racism without any consequences. The Senate couldn’t even agree to censure her last week. Enough is enough,” she said.
Hanson’s tweet was in response to one Faruqi posted on the day of the Queen’s death.
“I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples,” Faruqi tweeted.
Hanson replied: “Your attitude appalls and disgusts me. When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country. You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and a job in a parliament. It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan.”
Disgusting.
Faruqi lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission late last month and told the Senate Hanson’s comments were offensive and triggering not just to her but to many other migrants in Australia.
“Many migrants let me know how triggered they felt,” she said.
“It never gets easier to deal with racist attacks.
“It is insulting and it is humiliating.”
Faruqi revealed her family had also been targeted since the tweet exchange and said people had been calling her and her husband’s workplace with racist hate.
Senator Penny Wong, who was born in Malaysia, called Hanson’s comments “appalling” and likened it to the racism she faced when she first came to Australia.
Wong said Hanson’s comments were an “attack on democracy because fundamentally what it is saying is you are not equal”.
The Human Rights Commission will examine the complaint with reference to sections 9 and 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Section 9 says racial discrimination is unlawful and section 18C says it’s unlawful for someone to commit an act likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person based on race.
