One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson has today filed her appeal with the Federal Court against the ruling in October that she had vilified Senator Mehreen Faruqi in contravention of Section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975.

Senator Hanson said she had been overwhelmed by the support of many Australians in her fight for freedom of speech.

“I’m very grateful for the generosity and support provided by the Australian people after the decision in October,” she said.

“My office has been inundated with calls offering moral and financial support, and expressing their disgust at the decision and Faruqi’s conduct.

“These Australians understand what Faruqi and the Greens never have: when you are given the extraordinary privilege of representing Australians in Parliament, you don’t trash our country. You don’t trash its institutions. You don’t trash its people.”

The notice lodged with the Court today referred to appeal grounds that the judge erred in admitting into evidence autobiographical affidavits given in response to a public call from Faruqi, and the admission into evidence of a number of reports.

“I think the ruling has raised alarm among many Australians that their freedom of speech, the freedom to say what they’re thinking, is constantly under threat,” Senator Hanson said. “There’s a large body of thought that Section 18c interferes with the implied right of political communication in the Constitution.

“I’ve been warning for years the extreme far left will use 18c to attack and silence those with whom they disagree. After my case, who’s next in their sights? Opposition leader Peter Dutton is now being referred to the human rights commission over the same thing.

“Earlier this year I moved an inquiry to look at options for enshrining the right to free speech in the Constitution – and the Greens, with Labor, blocked it. They have never understood freedom of speech, which is why they fear it and seek to limit and control it.

“This is not just my fight. This is a fight for democracy for all Australians.”

ENDS