- Lidia Thorpe apologised to Pauline Hanson
- She had called her a ‘convicted racist’
Lidia Thorpe has issued a grovelling apology to Pauline Hanson for calling her a ‘convicted racist’.
The One Nation leader had issued defamation warnings to Ms Thorpe and Channel Nine’s Today show after the senator labelled her ‘a convicted racist’ on the program on November 28.
The letters, titled ‘urgent defamation’, demanded Ms Thorpe apologise to Ms Hanson or face legal action.
By Monday the senator had issued her apology.
‘My comments about Hanson last week referred to the federal court ruling that found she racially vilified a senator, contravened the Racial Discrimination Act and exhibited a strong form of racism,’ Ms Thorpe wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
‘To clarify, I was mistaken that she was “convicted” because it was a civil case.’
Solicitors Gillis Delaney sent Ms Thorpe the letters urging her to apologise for the ‘irresponsible’ comments.
‘It is highly irresponsible of you to have used this language on national television. It cannot have occurred innocently given how self-evidently false your claim is,’ it read.
Lidia Thorpe has issued a grovelling apology to Pauline Hanson for calling her a ‘convicted racist’
The letter continued: ‘You are a public servant who has a platform that should be used responsibly. Part of that involves urgently correcting yourself when you speak in error.’
A statement from Ms Hanson added: ‘Media outlets repeating the false claim by Lidia Thorpe that Senator Pauline Hanson has been “convicted of racism” have been put on notice they may face court proceedings.’
Ms Thorpe’s remarks concerned a Federal Court finding on November 1 that Ms Hanson had racially vilified Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi by telling her to ‘p*ss off back to Pakistan’ in a message on X.
Ms Hanson’s legal team has filed an appeal on the judgement, saying her sledge wasn’t racist as she previously told another senator to ‘go back’ to New Zealand.
more to come
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