Pauline Hanson was not driven by racism, but a need to expose hypocrisy when she told a Greens senator to pack her bags and return to Pakistan, a court has heard.

That is the One Nation leader’s argument as she challenges a court finding that she engaged in “seriously offensive” and intimidating behaviour toward the Greens deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi.

While not fit for “an afternoon tea” or the courtroom, Hanson’s remarks in September 2022 were expected by Australian X users accustomed to the argy-bargy of politicians, her barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, argued during a federal court appeal hearing on Monday.

Chrysanthou said the court could not sit in an ivory tower without grappling with how X users conducted themselves in 2022, often writing things they would not say in person.

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