Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi branded a racism 'hypocrite' in bombshell court row ... trends now

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi is a 'hypocrite' who is 'only against certain forms of racism', the federal court has been told in her blockbuster proceedings against Pauline Hanson.

Ms Faruqi is suing Ms Hanson over a comment she made on X, then Twitter, telling her to 'p*** off back to Pakistan' following the death of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022.

Under cross examination on Monday morning, Ms Faruqi reiterated that she stands against racism, but Ms Hanson's high-powered silk Sue Chrysanthou SC argued that she is selective in her advocacy.

'I'll be putting to her that she's a hypocrite and that she's only against certain forms of racism,' Ms Chrysanthou said.

She honed in on social media posts made by Ms Faruqi's son, Age journalist Osman Faruqi, which she told the court were offensive to white people.

One tweet read: 'Mediocre white people should be in the bin but instead they own everything and are every-f***ing-where.'

Asked whether she thought the post constituted racism, Ms Faruqi said: 'I don't.'

'You don't consider it racist?' Ms Chrysanthou asked again.

Ms Faruqi argued that racism 'is about people's ethnicity and skin colour. It is about who holds power in this country or anywhere else in the world'.

She added: 'It is tied to who holds the power and has the authority, to perpetrate racism. In this country, the power is held by white people.' 

But she accepted that critics often share that particular post on her own social media platforms and express anger about the sentiment.

Just moments earlier, Ms Faruqi had again insisted that she stands against racism, 'without qualifying' precisely what that meant.

Ms Chrysanthou said: 'She redefined racism to only, apparently, include some minorities. It's hard to understand that decision.

'I wish to explore what she considers to be inappropriate racism, or what is acceptable racism.'