Pauline Hanson’s provocation was a part of a long-running marketing campaign to ban the carrying of the normal Muslim garment in public.
Printed On 24 Nov 2025
A far-right Australian lawmaker has prompted indignant accusations of racism after carrying a burqa in parliament to attract consideration to her push to ban the garment in public.
Pauline Hanson, the chief of the populist anti-immigration One Nation occasion, carried out the stunt on Monday after she was prevented from tabling a Senate invoice to ban the normal Muslim garment and different face coverings from Australian public life.
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Hanson prompted speedy outrage as she walked into the Senate chamber carrying the burqa, with a number of lawmakers accusing her of racism and Islamophobia.
Proceedings had been suspended when she refused to take away the garment.
“A gown code could be a alternative of the senators, however racism shouldn’t be the selection of the Senate,” Australian Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, the primary Muslim to be elected to Australia’s higher chamber, mentioned. “It is a racist senator displaying blatant racism and Islamophobia.”
Unbiased Senator Fatima Payman, who can be Muslim, referred to as the stunt “disgraceful” and accused Hanson of “disrespecting the Muslims on the market, the Muslim Australians”.
Penny Wong, chief of Australia’s centre-left Labour authorities within the Senate, referred to as Hanson’s actions “undeserving of a member of the Australian Senate” and moved a movement to droop her.
Lengthy-running marketing campaign
It was the second time Hanson had used a burqa as a prop in parliament in help of her long-running bid to ban the garment from being worn publicly. She beforehand donned the garment in 2017.
The senator for Queensland first rose to prominence within the Nineties on the again of her strident opposition to immigration from Asia and by asylum seekers.
Her One Nation occasion has 4 seats within the Senate, having doubled its illustration within the chamber in Might’s basic election, with help for its far-right agenda on the rise.
In an announcement posted on Fb following Monday’s occasions, Hanson mentioned her actions had been in protest on the Senate rejecting her proposed invoice.
She asserted that she had worn the “oppressive” garment to spotlight the mistreatment of ladies and the danger it posed to nationwide safety.
