A federal court judge has asked why no Indigenous university students were asked if they were offended during an appeal against a racial discrimination case being thrown out.
Justice John Dowsett was hearing an appeal by a Queensland University of Technology administration officer, Cindy Prior, after her racial discrimination case, under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, was dismissed by the federal court judge Michael Jarrett on the grounds that it did not have reasonable prospects of successfully bringing a racial hatred case.
Prior attempted to sue three QUT students for $250,000 after they posted comments on Facebook about being asked to leave an Indigenous-only computer room.
Dowsett queried why no Indigenous students had been asked for their views on the comments. He asked if “any evidence” had been called from QUT Indigenous students to determine if they would have been offended or humiliated by the posts of students.
“You’re saying one can assume one cohort of people studying at QUT would have been offended?” he asked Prior’s barrister, Greg McIntyre SC.
Dowsett said in his experience with native title “one of the things that does the most damage to Indigenous people” was treating them all the same.
McIntyre said the appeal should proceed because “it’s a matter of the proper administration of justice”. He also indicated that Prior may struggle with the $200,000 of court costs she had been ordered to pay aftert the failure of the original case. “She is not a person of significant means”.
Prior, who is Indigenous, went on leave soon after becoming aware of a Facebook post from Alex Wood, one of the students who was asked to leave the computer lab.
“Just got kicked out of the unsigned indigenous computer room,” Wood wrote. “QUT stopping segregation with segregation.”
The post attracted a number of responses, including one from Jackson Powell who wrote: “I wonder where the white supremacist computer lab is.”
Calum Thwaites was alleged to have written “ITT Niggers” but the court has accepted that he was not responsible for the post.
Prior said in court documents this year that she was unable to continue working face-to-face with white people after the posts.
Dowsett has reserved his decision.