Pauline Hanson has won her bid to have the nation’s top court hear her appeal against a court ruling that she racially vilified a Greens senator by posting “piss off back to Pakistan” on social media.

The One Nation leader had made the remark in an exchange with senator Mehreen Faruqi on the platform X, formerly Twitter, in 2022 in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

At the time Senator Faruqi had expressed condolences for the passing of the monarch but argued she could not mourn “the leader of a racist empire”.

“Condolences to those who knew the Queen. I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples,” she’d said.

In May 2023, Senator Faruqi launched a court action against Senator Hanson, and was found to have breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act in late 2024.

Justice Angus Stewart had said he found Senator Hanson’s reply was “seriously humiliating” and ordered she delete the tweet.

Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate someone because of their race, colour or national or ethnic origin.

Senator Faruqi is Australia’s first Muslim senator and was born in Pakistan before migrating to Australia in 1992.

Senator Hanson had then tried to overturn the landmark ruling but lost her bid in July when the full court of the Federal Court unanimously upheld Justice Stewart’s ruling.

The new High Court appeal marks Senator Hanson’s last legal avenue.

The case has listed Senator Faruqi and the Commonwealth Attorney-General as the second respondent.

Senator Hanson’s two grounds to argue includes that the Commonwealth does not have the power to make those laws, and that they infringed on the implied freedom of political communication.

Senator Hanson said Australians should be able to speak their minds and disagree “without being frightened into silence”.

“This case has always been bigger than me and bigger than one tweet,” she said in a social media post.

Senator Faruqi welcomed the latest courtroom showdown, adding the nation’s legal system needed to be able to provide protection against vilification.

“Bring it on,” she said in a statement.

“This has been a long, hard road walked alongside everyone who has been targeted by racism,” she said.

“We won’t be backing down now. The highest court in Australia can now determine once and for all that people in this country are protected against racism.

“People of colour, migrants and Muslims deserve to feel safe in the place they call home.”

Senator Hanson was ordered in August to pay her Senator Faruqi’s legal costs.

Both Senators have previously crowdfunded their cases.

A date for when the case will be heard is yet to be determined.