direct target of the negative treatment, the impacts of such treatment such as poor physical and mental health and reduced belonging can generalise to members of the group as a whole (those who share a social identity).
144 Professor Reynolds said that there is extensive research that confirms that there is a statistically significant relationship between a person's experience of prejudice and their negative mental health and physical health. The experiences of feeling devalued, excluded and rejected from the majority group can likely result in lower self-esteem, lower general life satisfaction, lower sense of belonging, lower self-efficacy/mastery and increased anxiety and depression. Such harms can be experienced "vicariously."
145 Professor Reynolds expressed the opinion that a person who shares one or more of the Group Attributes (being the same ones on which Professor Paradies was instructed, see [130] above) who read the tweet by Senator Hanson, or was told words to the effect of "go back to where you came from" would be "impacted", is likely to experience prejudice and racism from the tweet which is associated with significantly poor physical and mental health (T124:36-41). She said that if the tweet is experienced as discriminatory and racist, it is likely that there will be a flow-on effect to poor physical and mental outcomes (T124:19-25).
146 Professor Reynolds said that there is a strong theoretical case that can be made with regard to the relationship between the racist or discriminatory conduct of public officials and its effect on people, but that there is "less available research" to directly inform her opinion. Nevertheless, building on existing research material, her expert opinion is that the behaviour of public officials, what they say and do, is amplified because they are in positions of power and hold positions of authority and influence. The actions of officials can result in further marginalisation and disengagement from the political process and can lessen the likelihood of national identification and belonging.
147 It is submitted on behalf of Senator Hanson that Professor Reynolds' evidence is of minimal utility because her opinion about people being "impacted" by Senator Hanson's tweet was limited to a consideration of "Muslim women in the Australian context." That, however, is not a fair reading of the evidence. Specifically, Professor Reynolds was asked who the "ingroup" is referred to in paragraph [34] of her report in which she stated that "[m]embers of the ingroup will interpret events in similar ways and will be affected by treatment of individual group members or the group as a whole in similar ways." Her answer was that "it was characterised in
