She moved to Australia last year and describes herself on Twitter as a Sky News contributor – but has also said she is not employed by the broadcaster. Southern, a Canadian film-maker and YouTube personality frequently described as a “rightwing provocateur”, has previously rejected claims of being a “white nationalist”, while speaking out against the “cult” of multiculturalism and criticising Muslim immigration into western countries. Mitry Lawyers, which is representing Southern, told Guardian Australia on Thursday: “The commentary contained in that correspondence, to the extent it related to our client specifically (as opposed to general statements) is rejected.” At issue are not the questions posed by Faruqi to News Corp executives about Southern’s alleged promotion of the “great replacement” theory – an exchange that is covered by parliamentary privilege – but the wording the senator used in a tweet when she retweeted video of the exchange.įaruqi’s legal representatives said in a letter on Monday that the New South Wales senator took her public duties “very seriously” and would continue to speak out against what she saw as any “racist rhetoric and race-baiting commentary and behaviour engaged in by Ms Southern and others”.
