Yassmin Abdel-Magied the subject of human rights complaint

The controversial commentator’s tweets have become the subject of a Human Rights Commission complaint.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied’s tweets are the subject of a Human Rights Commission complaint. Source: Supplied

Polarising commentator Yassmin Abdel-Magied has revealed she is the subject of a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission over her tweets.

Ms Abdel-Magied, a former ABC presenter, rose to prominence as a vivacious and outspoken young Muslim who had succeeded in the male-dominated world of engineering — at 21, she was the only woman engineer on an offshore oil rig and the memoir she wrote aged 24, Yassmin’s Story, was heralded for its humour and intelligence.

But Ms Abdel-Magied’s commentary soon landed her in controversy — there was an outcry when she described Islam as the most feminist religion on ABC’s Q&A and a backlash in January when she was seen to mock Australians concerned by gangs of boys and young men of African descent committing crimes in Melbourne. The gang members were often either refugees, migrants or the children of refugees or migrants, sparking a highly-charged debate over race and crime.

“All these aussies outraged about ‘gangs’, acting like they’re not descendant of actual convicts lol,” Ms Abdel-Magied tweeted at the time. She later tweeted that she was joking: “I mean jokes obviously Muslims don’t have a sense of humour OMG sharia.” She also said: “Every so often I feel like I need to wear a T-shirt that says ‘Muslims have a sense of humour’.”

Her Anzac Day post on Facebook drew a barrage of hatred. She wrote: “Lest We Forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine ...)” She deleted the post and apologised.

Ms Abdel-Magied later moved to London, where she continues to be sought after for analysis on topics including women’s issues.

So apparently my tweets are worth complaining about to the Aus Human Rights commission. I can’t give you more details... but it does make me wonder - should I have been reporting every single thing that people said to me that was racially, religiously or sexually charged? #auspol

— Yassmin Abdel-Magied (@yassmin_a) February 14, 2018

Overnight she indicated on Twitter that somebody had complained about her tweets to the Australian Human Rights Commission, which has previously been scrutinised for running secretive, flawed cases.

Ms Abdel-Magied did not reveal which of her tweets were the subject of a complaint but wrote: “I mean, wow. People have a lot of time on their hands.”

“So apparently my tweets are worth complaining about to the Aus Human Rights commission. I can’t give you more details ... but it does make me wonder — should I have been reporting every single thing that people said to me that was racially, religiously or sexually charged? #auspol.”

Ms Abdel-Magied, who was subjected to a vicious barrage over her Anzac Day post, wrote that she did not think to report any of what was said about her last year to the human rights commission “and it is fascinating to think why”.

“Is it cos the process of doing so is exhausting in of itself? Cos I wasn’t brought up with it as an option when something happened — we were taught to just brush it off and deal w it? It it cos I subconsciously didn’t believe it would make a difference (even if that wasn’t true?),” she wrote.

Senator Cory Bernardi - among critics of 18C, the section of human rights legislation that makes it an offence to offend - today introduced a private members bill to abolish the Australian Human Rights Commission.

In a media statement, Senator Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives argued that abolishing the commission would do away with duplication because states and territories already have “residual jurisdiction” to deal with human rights complaints.