By Ben Kerrigan –
An Australian senator has been suspended for a week after wearing a burka in parliament to push for a ban on the Muslim garment.
Far right Pauline Hanson(pictured), leader of Australian’s One nation party was condemned by fellow senators and later formally censured for the stunt on Monday, with one colleague accusing her of “blatant racism”.
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The Queensland senator, of the anti-immigration One Nation party, was seeking to introduce a bill that would outlaw full face coverings in public – a policy she has long campaigned for.
It is the second time she has worn the garment – which covers the face and body – in parliament, and said her actions were in protest at the senate rejecting her bill.
Shortly after other lawmakers blocked her from introducing the bill on Monday, she returned wearing a black burka. Malaysian born foreign minister, Penny-Wong, who serves as leader of the government in the senate, said:
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”Hanson’s hateful and shallow pageantry tears at our social fabric and I believe it makes Australia weaker, and it also has cruel consequences for many of our most vulnerable”.
“Senator Hanson mocked and vilified an entire faith, a faith observed by nearly a million Australians . I’ve never seen someone be so disrespectful to (the parliament).” A motion censuring the One Nation party leader passed 55-5.
One Nation, which has capitalised on rising nationalist sentiment and anti-immigration policies, has expanded its Senate presence to four seats, gaining two in May’s general election. Recent opinion polls have shown support for Hanson and One Nation has further increased.
“This is a racist senator, displaying blatant racism,” said Mehreen Faruqi, a Muslim Greens senator whom the Federal Court last year found was a victim of racial discrimination by Hanson – a judgement the latter is currently appealing.
Fatima Payman, an independent senator from the state of Western Australia, called the stunt “disgraceful”.
Foreign Minister Wong, moved a motion to censure Hanson, claiming she “has been parading prejudice as protest for decades”. The motion, which passed 55 votes to five, states that Hanson’s actions were “intended to vilify and mock people on the basis of their religion” and were “disrespectful to Muslim Australians”.
Wong earlier argued Hanson was “not worthy of a member of the Australian senate”.
In a post on Facebook, Hanson wrote: “If they don’t want me wearing it – ban the burka.”
She previously wore a burka to parliament in 2017, also calling for a national ban at the time.
In 2016, Hanson was criticised for her maiden speech to the Australian senate, in which she said the country was in danger of being “swamped by Muslims”.
It echoed her controversial first speech to the House of Representatives, made in 1996, in which she warned that the country was in danger of being “swamped by Asians”.
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