Overview
- Minutes after being denied leave to introduce a bill banning burqas and other full-face coverings, the One Nation leader entered the chamber wearing a black burqa.
- Hanson refused orders from Senate President Sue Lines to remove the garment or leave, citing a previous ruling that using religious dress as a prop is disrespectful.
- Labor’s Penny Wong moved a motion to suspend Hanson, which passed, and Senate proceedings were suspended when Hanson would not comply.
- Muslim senators Mehreen Faruqi and Fatima Payman, Greens leader Larissa Waters, and Coalition Senate leader Anne Ruston condemned the act as racist, disrespectful and unsafe.
- Australia’s Islamophobia envoy Aftab Malik formally rebuked the move as likely to worsen harassment and threats against Muslim women, while Hanson defended it on social media by invoking security concerns and overseas bans.