248 There is also no necessary insincerity in offering condolences to those who knew the Queen and to go on to be critical of the monarchy as an institution of government. Indeed, it is an approach that is couched in terms which seek to be respectful of the feelings of those who feel personal loss on the death of the Queen while at the same time making a broader point about institutional history.
249 It is also relevant that Senator Faruqi's tweet was not directed at Senator Hanson; it was in no sense an attack on her.
250 In short, there is nothing in that part of the overall circumstances constituted by Senator Faruqi's tweet that to the "reasonable" member of the relevant group or the "reasonable victim" lessens the offensive, insulting, humiliating and intimidating effect of the racist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim messages of Senator Hanson's tweet. Those messages are powerful and impactful.
251 The expert evidence of Professors Paradies and Reynolds establishes the harmful effects of racism, both at an individual level and at a societal level. It also establishes that racism is experienced vicariously. That is pertinent because even if the tweet was read and understood as only targeting Senator Faruqi, significant numbers of the members of the identified groups would personally experience the harmful effects of the racism expressed in the tweet. That racism does have such effects and is pernicious in the way in which it is experienced, is borne out by and supported by the evidence of the autobiographical witnesses. Their evidence also supports the conclusion that the tweet in question is likely to be experienced by the hypothetical member of the identified groups as (profoundly and seriously) offensive, insulting, humiliating and intimidating.
252 As mentioned, the relevant "person" as referred to in para (a), as distinct from the group of people, is Senator Faruqi. Her evidence speaks to her actual response to Senator Hanson's tweet, ie its effects on her. Nevertheless, the inquiry is an objective one – would the hypothetical person in Senator Faruqi's position who is not oversensitive nor insensitive, the "reasonable victim", feel the effects in a similar way? In my view, that hypothetical person is likely to experience Senator Hanson's tweet as (profoundly and seriously) offensive, insulting, humiliating and intimidating. To focus on just the last two of those effects, being those at the most serious end of the spectrum and hence the most difficult to establish, it is seriously humiliating to be told as an immigrant person of colour that you are a second-class citizen and unworthy. It is intimidating to be publicly attacked in that way, and to be subjected to the racist
