Pauline Hanson's latest incendiary video, an AI-generated ad for next month's Victorian state election, has attracted remarkably little reaction, despite featuring racist tropes including a young African man wielding a machete and a Middle Eastern-looking man wearing an explosives vest. The video, which borrows from a campaign commercial by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, depicts a family of inner-city Melbourne progressives who reveal themselves as secret conservatives, with the slogan “Take Victoria Back”.
Racist tropes and muted response
Derogatory depictions of Indians and Indigenous Australians are also included. Despite One Nation leading in the polls and Hanson rising in rankings of preferred prime minister, the video barely registered beyond social media. After 30 years of offensive statements and stunts about race and religion, Hanson and One Nation may have lost some of their ability to shock.
It was one of those statements that landed Hanson in the federal court in 2024, where she was found to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act. In August, Hanson flagged she would ask the High Court of Australia to overturn the ruling that found she had racially discriminated against Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi by telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Background of the dispute
The dispute dates back to early September 2022 and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Responding to the news, Faruqi wrote on social media that she could not “mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples”. Hanson replied that Faruqi’s attitude was appalling and disgusting, sharing the post with her followers.
“When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country,” Hanson wrote. “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.”
Faruqi took legal action, and in November 2024 the One Nation leader was found to have breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful to act in a way reasonably likely to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” someone because of their race or ethnicity. The court deemed the comments anti-Muslim or Islamophobic, even as Hanson argued she did not know Faruqi was a Muslim, something the judge found “overwhelmingly” improbable.
Legal and constitutional questions
Hanson’s initial appeal failed, with the full federal court finding her comments were offensive, insulting, humiliating and intimidating to Faruqi, migrants, Australians of relatively recent migrant heritage, and Muslims. The Human Rights Commission argues section 18C fills an important gap in legal protection for those affected by racial hatred and vilification, noting courts have held that conduct must involve “profound and serious” effects and not “mere slights”.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott and constitutional law expert Anne Twomey are among those advocating for the court to take up Hanson’s appeal, though for different reasons. Twomey has called the federal court decision contradictory and “muddy” in parts, warning that important constitutional issues related to 18C have not been given proper analysis. Hanson has indicated her appeal is based on the fact that the High Court has never ruled on whether section 18C is constitutionally valid, arguing it burdens political speech and the free flow of information between citizens and their elected representatives.
While revisiting the controversy will be painful and expensive, including for Faruqi herself, the question should be settled by the court. Free speech is a bedrock of the political system, but it is badly misused by Hanson. Her comments about Faruqi appear plainly designed to offend, insult and ridicule, and her conduct badly erodes the fairness and acceptance which has for so long been part of modern Australia.
Given One Nation’s position in the polls, the Victorian campaign will serve as a preview of the next federal election, coinciding with a three-way race by the major parties to cut immigration. Whatever the outcome of Hanson’s High Court action and the future of section 18C, conduct like last weekend’s video shouldn’t be considered normal for a political party claiming to be part of the mainstream.
