Conclusion on para (a)
242 I am comfortably satisfied that both groups of people in Australia that I have identified, being persons of colour who are migrants or of relatively recent migrant heritage and persons of colour who are Muslim, are reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to have been offended (ie profoundly and seriously), insulted, humiliated and intimidated by Senator Hanson's tweet. I have already canvassed the basis for that conclusion in traversing the evidence and the discussion of the circumstances and meaning of the tweet and the identification of the relevant group. By way of non-exhaustive summary, I highlight the following.
243 The starting point is the nature of the messages conveyed by the tweet. Although separately identifiable, the messages must be taken together to assess their impact in context (ie "in all the circumstances"). As I have explained, the tweet targets immigrants as being second-class Australians, and as being less worthy of what Australia has to offer than those who are not immigrants or of recent immigrant heritage. The tweet also expresses, in particularly emphatic form and tone, the racist trope "go back to where you came from." That dismissive statement is addressed at a prominent member of the Muslim community, telling her to go back to Pakistan which is a Muslim country. It will therefore also be understood by the hypothetical reader as an anti-Muslim message. Moreover, those three messages – nativist, racist and anti-Muslim – are amplified and given credit or credibility coming from a Senator, and one with a large following on Twitter. As such, they authorise and empower others with less power and status to publish the same sort of messages, or worse, as explained by Professor Paradies (see [134] above).
244 The fact that the tweet is and would have been understood by the relevant hypothetical reader as being a direct response or reply to Senator Faruqi's tweet does not detract from the nature and strength of its messages. Turning attention, then, to Senator Faruqi's tweet as the submissions on behalf of Senator Hanson demand, it can be accepted that colonial history in general, and Australian colonial history in particular, and the role and place of race and racism in that history, are contested issues. It can also be accepted that the place of the monarch as the Australian head of state, and whether Australia should become a republic, are contested issues, as are the questions of treaty and justice and reparations for First Nations people. But Senator Faruqi's expression of ideas and opinions on those issues – even on the day of the Queen's death – would not be seen by the relevant hypothetical reader to justify or lessen the effect of the targeted, racist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim response from Senator Hanson. Objectively, there is nothing in Senator Faruqi's tweet which might in context lessen the impact of Senator Hanson's tweet.
