Pauline Hanson has worn a burqa in the Senate, repeating a widely condemned stunt as she sought to ban the Muslim face covering on national security grounds – despite being unable to name a single safety incident linked to the burqa.
The special envoy for Islamophobia warned the stunt could “deepen existing safety risks for Australian Muslim women who choose to wear the headscarf, the hijab, or the full face and body covering, the burqa”.
Hanson, the One Nation party leader, was ejected from the Senate on Monday, forcing the suspension of the chamber as she refused to take off the burqa in violation of a parliamentary ruling.
She was condemned by all parties in the Senate for repeating the offensive display, with Nationals senator Matt Canavan saying Hanson’s stunt “debased” the parliament and was “ridiculing” Muslim Australians.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe, interjecting loudly numerous times upon seeing Hanson’s dress, called for Hanson to be ejected from parliament. Fellow independent Fatima Payman, who is Muslim and wears a hijab, accused Hanson of “disrespecting a faith, disrespecting Muslim Australians”.
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“This needs to be dealt with immediately before we proceed, it’s disgraceful,” Payman said.
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, called the burqa stunt an “insult”. The Labor Senate leader, Penny Wong, said senators should not be “disrespectful of the Senate” and said Hanson’s conduct was “not worthy” of the parliament and politicians.
The Liberal Senate leader, Anne Ruston, said “this is not the way you should be addressing this chamber”.
The Senate resumed after more than an hour’s suspension. Guardian Australia understands some senators were discussing whether a formal censure motion will be levelled against Hanson.
After being denied leave to introduce her own private senator’s bill to ban the burqa in Australia, Hanson left the chamber and soon returned wearing the black garment.
It was a repeat of her widely criticised 2017 stunt, which prompted then Liberal senator George Brandis to furiously call out the One Nation leader for mocking the Islamic community, calling it “an appalling thing to do”.
“Pauline Hanson needs some new material because … she recycled this from eight years ago,” Canavan, a conservative senator, told the ABC on Monday.
“I don’t know if this is the right move for them because while this might attract the interest of small fringe in our society, I don’t think middle Australia like the parliament being debased like this.”
Hanson and her One Nation colleagues held a fiery press conference in Parliament House shortly after she was ejected from the Senate for refusing to remove the burqa.
Explaining her bill, she claimed wearing a burqa was “a national security issue”, noting head coverings like helmets were required to be removed when entering banks and other businesses.
“We have so many issues in the country with national security,” she said.
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But asked for data about how many incidents of national security risk she was aware of relating to face coverings like the burqa, Hanson said: “Can I suggest you call Asio?”
Pressed further for any details, she could not provide any.
“I can’t answer you that question,” Hanson replied.
The special envoy, Aftab Malik, said it was “frustrating” to see Hanson’s actions tie Australian Muslim women’s choice of clothing to national security concerns.
“[These Muslim women] already face harassment, threats of rape, and violence, not because what they have done, but because of what they wear,” he said in a statement on social media.
“Veiled Muslim women have long been easy targets for bigotry and intolerance against Muslims. A proposed burqa ban will further stigmatise them as outsiders and embolden harassment and abuse.
”All women should be free to choose what they wear or do not wear.”
Hanson published on Facebook a photo of herself wearing the ankle-length black body covering, standing in her Parliament House office in front of a large painting of her own face.
Hanson claimed “if the parliament won’t ban it, I will display this oppressive, radical, non-religious head garb that risk our national security and the ill treatment of women on the floor of our parliament so that every Australian knows what’s at stake”.
“If they don’t want me wearing it – ban the burqa.”
