Lidia Thorpe has issued a public apology of sorts to Pauline Hanson for calling her a ‘convicted racist’.
The One Nation leader had issued defamation warnings to Ms Thorpe and Channel Nine’s Today show after the senator labelled her ‘a convicted racist’ on the program on November 28.
The letters, titled ‘urgent defamation’, demanded Ms Thorpe apologise to Ms Hanson or face legal action.
By Monday the senator had issued her apology.
‘My comments about Hanson last week referred to the federal court ruling that found she racially vilified a senator, contravened the Racial Discrimination Act and exhibited a strong form of racism,’ Ms Thorpe wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
‘To clarify, I was mistaken that she was “convicted” because it was a civil case.
‘Sorry about that Pauline!’
Solicitors Gillis Delaney sent Ms Thorpe the letters urging her to apologise for the ‘irresponsible’ comments.
Lidia Thorpe has issued an apology to Pauline Hanson for calling her a ‘convicted racist’
Ms Hanson’s legal team sent a letter to Ms Thorpe threatening legal action last week
‘It is highly irresponsible of you to have used this language on national television. It cannot have occurred innocently given how self-evidently false your claim is,’ the letters read.
They continued: ‘You are a public servant who has a platform that should be used responsibly. Part of that involves urgently correcting yourself when you speak in error.’
Ms Hanson added in her own statement that media outlets repeating the false claim ‘have been put on notice’ that they also may face court proceedings.
Ms Thorpe’s remarks concerned a Federal Court finding on November 1 that Ms Hanson had racially vilified Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi by telling her to ‘p*ss off back to Pakistan’ in a message on X.
Ms Hanson’s legal team has filed an appeal on the judgement, saying her sledge wasn’t racist as she previously told another senator to ‘go back’ to New Zealand.
Her team also claimed Ms Hanson’s comment couldn’t be considered racial vilification as she didn’t mention Ms Mehreen’s skin colour.
Ms Hanson is using nearly $700,000 donated by supporters to help fund her legal team. She will be represented by leading barrister Sue Chrysathanou and her solicitor Anthony Jeffries, who also represents Lisa Wilkinson in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial.
The remarks were triggered by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to ‘p*ss off back to Pakistan’ in an earlier message on X (pictured, Ms Thorpe and Ms Faruqi)
Justice Angus Stewart found Ms Hanson’s post of X broke section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act and was an ‘angry personal attack’ and conveyed a ‘strong form of racism’.
However, Ms Hanson’s attack wasn’t racist as ‘it only targeted Ms Faruqi, there is no explicit or implicit reference to colour’, the judge found.
Independent senator Fatima Payman also recently sprayed Ms Hanson, accusing her of racism and claiming she spread hatred and division.
Ms Payman, who left Labor to set up her own party earlier this year, was triggered by a document Ms Hanson tabled in which she questioned whether Ms Payman’s Afghan citizenship disqualified her from serving in parliament.
Section 44c of the Australian constitution prevents anyone who holds citizenship of another country from sitting in parliament.
Ms Payman was born in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, but gained Australian citizenship in 2005.
This, however, did not automatically revoke her Afghanistan citizenship, therefore raising questions over her eligibility to sit in the senate.
Independent Senator Fatima Payman also recently accused Ms Hanson of being a racist during a speech in Parliament
Ms Payman called Ms Hanson the definition of racism during her speech while Ms Thorpe could be heard shouting ‘you are a convicted racist’ in the background (pictured, Ms Thorpe)
Ms Payman accused Ms Hanson of racism by listing previous comments made by her, including her first speech in which she said Australia was ‘in danger of being swamped by Asians’ and that ‘Aboriginality would no longer exist’ if her party were in power.
‘If that is not racist, what is it?’ Ms Payman yelled as she slammed her fist down on the table in the Senate.
‘Somebody bring the dictionary because Senator Hanson does not know the definition of racism.
‘The fact that you would say just weeks ago to Senator Faruqi, “piss off back to Pakistan”; you’re not just vindictive, mean, nasty, you bring disgrace to the human race. No dignity whatsoever as a senator in this prestigious place.’
Ms Thorpe could be heard repeatedly shouting ‘You are a convicted racist!’.
She was also suspended from Parliament for the rest of the sitting year after ripping up the motion by Ms Hanson on the chamber floor before appearing to flip her middle finger over her shoulder as she stormed out of the chamber.
Ms Thorpe earlier told the Today show that she had ‘no regrets’ about ‘standing up’ against racism.
