Australia’s Parliament descended into turmoil Monday after right-wing populist Sen. Pauline Hanson entered the chamber wearing a burqa, triggering outrage from Muslim lawmakers and forcing proceedings to be suspended.
Hanson arrived in the full-face covering shortly after being denied permission to introduce her bill seeking to ban burqas and other face coverings in public. The move prompted shouting across the chamber as senators demanded she remove the garment. Senate leaders eventually halted the session when she refused to do so.
Leaders from both major parties condemned the stunt. Labor Senate leader and Foreign Minister Penny Wong described Hanson’s display as "not worthy of a member of the Australian Senate," according to Reuters, and moved to suspend her after she refused to comply with instructions to remove the covering. Opposition Deputy Senate Leader Anne Ruston also criticized the act.
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Two muslim senators condemned Hanson's actions. Green party Sen. Mehreen Faruqi denounced the move. "This is a racist senator, displaying blatant racism." Independent Sen. Fatima Payman similarly denounced the act as "disgraceful" and "shame".
The incident marked the second time Hanson has worn a burqa inside Parliament. The 71-year-old senator first did so in 2017 as part of her longtime campaign against Islamic dress. Hanson has spent decades opposing immigration from Asia and criticizing Australia’s multicultural policies, positions that helped launch her political career in the 1990s.
Her One Nation party currently holds four seats in the senate after gaining two in May’s national election, reflecting a rise in anti-immigration sentiment, according to Reuters.
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Following the uproar, Hanson released a statement on her verified Facebook page. She wrote: "Today I wore a burqa into the Senate after One Nation's bill to ban the burqa and face coverings in public was blocked from even being introduced. The usual hypocrites had an absolute freak out. The fact is more than 20 countries around the world have banned the burqa because they recognize it as a tool that oppresses women, poses a national security risk, encourages radical Islam and threatens social cohesion. If these hypocrites don't want me to wear a burqa, they can always support my ban."
Her statement continued, "So if Parliament won't ban it, I will display this oppressive, radical, nonreligious head garb that risks our national security and the ill treatment of women on the floor of our Parliament so that every Australian knows what's at stake. If they don't want me wearing it, ban the burqa."
France and 21 other countries, including Tunisia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Portugal, have already implemented burqa bans.
Hanson left Parliament after losing her seat in 1998 and resigned as leader of One Nation in 2002. She was jailed in 2003 on electoral fraud charges, though the conviction was later overturned.
In 2010, she dropped plans to move to the United Kingdom, saying it was "overrun with immigrants and refugees." She returned to lead One Nation in 2014 and won election to the Senate in 2016. She used her first speech to warn that "Australia was in danger of being swamped by Muslims."
Reuters contributed to this report.
