Australian senator Pauline Hanson suspended after wearing burka in parliament

An Australian senator has been suspended for a week after wearing a burka in parliament to push for a ban on the Muslim garment.

Pauline Hanson, a Queensland senator and leader of the anti-immigration One Nation party, wore the full face and body covering on Monday in protest after her bill seeking to outlaw full-face coverings in public was blocked. This marks the second time Hanson has donned a burka in parliament to draw attention to her campaign.

Her actions were met with sharp criticism from fellow senators. Mehreen Faruqi, a Muslim Greens senator who successfully won a racial discrimination case against Hanson last year, described the move as “blatant racism.” Independent senator Fatima Payman from Western Australia called the stunt “disgraceful.”

The government, led in the Senate by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, swiftly moved to censure Hanson. The motion passed with 55 votes in favour and five against, declaring that Hanson’s actions “vilified and mocked people on the basis of their religion” and were “disrespectful to Muslim Australians.” Wong argued that Hanson’s behaviour showed she was “not worthy of a member of the Australian Senate.”

In response, Hanson posted on Facebook: “If they don’t want me wearing it – ban the burka.” She first wore a burka in parliament in 2017 while calling for a national ban.

Hanson has a long history of controversial statements on race and religion. In her 2016 maiden speech to the Senate, she warned that Australia risked being “swamped by Muslims,” echoing her 1996 House of Representatives speech in which she said the country was in danger of being “swamped by Asians.”

This latest incident is likely to fuel ongoing debates in Australia about religious freedoms, public safety, and the boundaries of parliamentary protest.