gained the clear impression that she was doing her best to recollect matters correctly and give true and accurate evidence.
55 The provocations include it being put to her that she is a hypocrite because she is an immigrant to Australia and yet she is critical of Australia. That is provocative because it suggests that Australian citizens who are immigrants are less worthy citizens than those who are not immigrants and that one cannot be loyal to one's country and be critical of it at the same time. It was put to her that her denial that she had understood Senator Hanson's tweet as telling her that she had "lived a good and fulfilled life in Australia" was disingenuous (T67:39-68:14), when plainly that was not the message of the tweet. It was also put to her that by her tweet she was accusing all non-Indigenous Australians of having engaged in a joint act of stealing land (she was not) (T60:1-5). It was said to her that she had "denigrated Jews" and that the only reason she was interested in what was referred to as the genocide in Gaza was "because it is being engaged in by Jews" as demonstrated by her not having "said anything … politically or publicly about the genocide of the Armenians by the Turks" (a reference to events that took place more than 100 years ago) (T84:40-85:2). In the face of all that, Senator Faruqi maintained her equanimity.
56 It is submitted on behalf of Senator Hanson that Senator Faruqi's evidence should be approached with caution. Three criticisms are raised in that regard. The first is that she was unwilling to accept what was said to be the obvious basis for Senator Hanson saying in her tweet that Senator Faruqi was "not happy", namely the content of Senator Faruqi's tweet. Senator Faruqi was asked whether she understood the words "it's clear you're not happy" to be a reference to her tweet earlier that day, to which Senator Faruqi answered, "I did not" (T68:16-17). Senator Faruqi went on to say that she has no idea why that was said of her because she is very happy in Australia (T68:19-21), and that she did not see her tweet inferring anything about her happiness or unhappiness in Australia (T68:26-29). Those are perfectly legitimate and understandable answers. There is nothing in them that constitutes evasion from accepting the obvious.
57 The second criticism of Senator Faruqi is said to be her claim that "colour" was implicit in Senator Hanson's tweet which, it is said, self-evidently involved no such notion (T68:45-47). It is true the words in Senator Hanson's tweet did not refer to skin colour. Beyond that, there is nothing self-evident about it. The tweet was directed to a Muslim woman of colour who immigrated from Pakistan and instructed her, in particularly rude and emphatic terms, to "piss
