back to Pakistan" to express hatred and intolerance and to be telling Senator Faruqi that Senator Hanson was not willing to tolerate her continued presence in Australia.
106 Ms Ashraf said that she was offended, humiliated, insulted and intimidated by Senator Hanson's tweet. She felt that it is dismissive of Senator Faruqi's existence as an Australian citizen. She finds it offensive as an immigrant to Australia. She felt that the tweet expressed what she has experienced to be a popular sentiment amongst some Australians, which is that she is not truly accepted because of her migrant heritage and that it is not acceptable for her to share an opinion about life in Australia which is not positive. She feels as though she can only be accepted as an Australian citizen on a conditional basis–as long as she is grateful for the fact that she lives in Australia, she will be liked and accepted.
107 Ms Ashraf said that she felt intimidated by the tweet because it made her feel unable to participate fully and freely in political and societal discussions, as though she does not have the right to share her opinions in her own country.
Stephen Mandivengerei
108 Stephen Mandivengerei, who works as a support worker, was born in 1975 in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). He identifies as being of African origin, of Mbire ethnicity and a person of colour. Mr Mandivengerei immigrated to Australia in 2008 with his wife and two children. They now have a third child. All three children are Australian citizens.
109 Mr Mandivengerei does not recall seeing Senator Hanson's tweet until he saw a Facebook post by Senator Faruqi in June 2023 in which she invited people to fill in an online survey about their responses to the tweet. That caused him to conduct some internet searches which turned up Senator Hanson's tweet.
110 Mr Mandivengerei understood Senator Hanson's tweet to be telling Senator Faruqi to go back to Pakistan. However, in his view the words "piss off back to Pakistan" are a stronger, more vulgar and unkind way of saying "go back" and they convey a higher degree of anger, exasperation or disgust. He felt offended, insulted and intimidated by the tweet.
111 Mr Mandivengerei said that he felt offended and insulted because he was reminded of previous incidents when he had been told to "go back to where you came from" by people in Australia. Further, he said that the fact that the views expressed in the tweet were expressed by one Australian Senator to another added to the overall offence and insult he experienced as a result
