Australian senator expelled for disrespecting Burqa in Parliament

Australia has expelled far-right female senator Pauline Hanson from the Senate for seven working days after she insulted the burqa in Parliament. She entered the chamber wearing a burqa as part of a campaign to ban public use of the garment, an act widely described as offensive.

Lawmakers condemned her behaviour following the incident.

The far-right senator had attempted to introduce a bill in Parliament seeking a public ban on the burqa. After failing, she entered the Senate chamber wearing the garment and later removed it, triggering strong criticism from Muslim legislators who described the act as racist.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who leads the centre-right government in the Senate, said, “Senator Hanson’s hateful theatrics have torn at the fabric of our society. I believe her actions have weakened Australia globally. Others will have to bear the consequences of what she has done.”

She added, “Senator Hanson’s act mocked and insulted a faith- Islam, practised by nearly one million Australians. We have never witnessed such disrespect in Parliament.”

Defending her actions, the senator said, “If you are asked to remove a helmet at a bank or another venue, why should the burqa be any different?”

The anti-Muslim senator further claimed she merely expressed her views on the burqa. As Parliament has no formal dress code, she argued she was free to wear whatever she wished in the chamber.

The Queensland senator first rose to prominence in the 1990s. She has long opposed South Asian immigration and the wearing of Muslim attire.