Story:
Leader of Australia’s right-wing One Nation party Pauline Hanson has defended her “right” to wear a burqa in parliament, despite fierce criticism branding the stunt “blatant racism.”
Ms Hanson, 71, has been campaigning for decades to introduce legislation banning full face coverings in Australia. When fellow lawmakers blocked her attempt to introduce the bill this morning, she left the Senate chamber and returned minutes later wearing a black burqa over a floral dress that ended above the knee.
The controversial display ignited furious backlash from fellow senators, who condemned it as racist, while some social media users praised Ms Hanson and echoed her calls to ban the garment.
Speaking to Andrew Bolt on Sky News Australia, Ms Hanson defended her actions and called her critics “hypocrites.”
“My concern is, as a nation, for national security—terrorist threats and attacks are happening,” the senator said. “Also for women’s rights, that they’re not forced to wear the full burqa against their will. I think it goes against our culture and our way of life, and this is why I want to introduce the bill.”
Explaining her decision to don the burqa, Ms Hanson said: “They denied me the right to ban the burqa. So I actually left the chamber, went up and put the burqa on, and I thought if you won’t ban the burqa, then I’m going to wear it. Well, didn’t that upset them. They didn’t want me to wear the burqa in parliament. They didn’t want to ban it, but they don’t want me to wear it in parliament, so what do they want? They’re a bunch of hypocrites.”
This marks the second time she has worn the garment in parliament, having previously done so in 2017.
Mehreen Faruqi, a Greens senator from New South Wales, denounced the stunt today: “This is a racist senator, displaying blatant racism.”
Fatima Payman, an independent senator from Western Australia who wears a hijab, called it “disgraceful,” adding: “She is disrespecting a faith, she is disrespecting the Muslims out there, Muslim Australians.”
Penny Wong, leader of Australia’s Labor government in the Senate, also condemned Ms Hanson’s actions as “not worthy of a member of the Australian Senate” and moved to suspend her for refusing to remove the burqa. Proceedings were briefly suspended after Ms Hanson declined to leave.
Shortly after the incident, Ms Hanson took to social media to reiterate her position. “Today, the Senate blocked the introduction of my Bill to ban the burqa and other full face coverings in public places,” she wrote. “Despite the ban in 24 countries across the world (including Islamic countries), the hypocrites in our parliament have rejected my Bill.”
Hanson vowed to continue wearing the burqa until it was banned, describing it as “this oppressive, radical, non-religious head garb that risks our national security and the ill treatment of women.”
“If they don’t want me wearing it—ban the burqa,” Ms Hanson said.
She has previously described Islam as “a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own.”
