Anti-Muslim Australian senator under fire for ‘offensive’ burqa stunt in parliament

An Australian far-right parliamentarian wore a burqa on the floor of the country's upper house in a stunt ahead of a debate on banning the full-face coverings in the public.

Pauline Hanson, the head of the One Nation party, entered the Senate on Thursday wearing a black veil, which drew visible shock from other senators, as well as anger from colleagues.

As she asked the country's attorney general a question about her party's bid to ban the burqa, she removed the face covering.

"The central issue in this motion, before the Senate, is the right of others to see a face," Hanson said. "No one should be permitted to hide behind a veil of secrecy while there is a security concern."

"Full-face coverings isolate people on both sides of the covering, denying important non-verbal information to set the context of the verbal communication," she said.

"I would caution and counsel you with respect to be very, very careful of the offence you may do to the religious sensibilities of other Australians," Attorney General George Brandis replied.

He said her actions risked alienating around a half-million Australians who adhered to Islam, the vast majority of whom were law-abiding.

"To ridicule that community ... to mock its religious garments, is an appalling thing to do," Brandis told the parliament.

"No, Senator Hanson, we will not ban the burqa."
Following Brandis' speech, most of the Australian lawmakers gave him a standing ovation.

Hanson later left the chamber with her burqa in hand.

Stephen Parry, the Senate's president, said Hanson's identity had been confirmed before she entered the chamber and that he was not going to dictate the standard of dress for senators.

Sam Dastyari, a Muslim and a senator with the opposition Labor party, said on his Twitter: "The Senate has become a circus. Hanson is a disgrace. Government is weak and reliant on her vote. Pathetic."

"It is hurtful, it is offensive ... When you pull those types of stunts, when people try to trivialize other people's faith and religion, for the sole purpose of a cheap headline, national security is damaged," he later told the Senate.

"Islamic extremism is a danger as is radical nationalism."

Hanson's party controls four seats in Australia's Senate. She has repeatedly courted controversy since first being elected to the parliament in 1996.

Back then, she attacked Asian migrants, but since her election to the Senate last year, she has made Islam her target.

She said last year that Australia is being "swamped by Muslims" and some of her policies include banning the construction of new mosques and Islamic schools, installing CCTV in mosques and schools and banning burqas in public.

Earlier this year, she argued against all halal-certified products, saying buying such products equates to "financially supporting the Islamization of Australia."

Many Australians and media outlets also criticized Hanson's stunt as "offensive" and "appalling."

Brandis' remarks prompted a standing ovation from his political opponents in the Labor and Greens parties.

Independent senator Derryn Hinch labelled Hanson's conduct "disgusting".

"Pauline Hanson mocked the religion of some Australians... she made a mockery of an honourable place (the Senate)," he told Sky News.

Sam Dastyari, an opposition senator and an Iranian-born Muslim, said: "We have seen the stunt of all stunts in this chamber by Sen. Hanson."

"The close to 500,000 Muslim Australians do not deserve to be targeted, do not deserve to be marginalized, do not deserve to be ridiculed, do not deserve to have their faith made some political point by the desperate leader of a desperate political party," Dastyari said.

Labor senator accused Hanson of stoking extremism in a poorly timed bid for "a cheap headline".

"In the same week that we saw white nationalism rear its ugly head in the country of our closest ally -- in that week a stunt like this gets pulled in the Australian Senate," he said.

"It is hurtful, it is offensive, it is wrong,"

Hanson first gained prominence in the 1990s, when she warned Australia was in danger of being "swamped by Asians".

After a 12-year hiatus from politics she returned in 2014, this time targeting Muslims and was elected to the Senate two years later as leader of the right-wing One Nation party.

In her first speech after returning to parliament, she said Islam was "a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own".

Hanson was unrepentant after her latest stunt, telling commercial radio: "Is it extreme? Yes. Is it getting my message across? I hope so."
* According to census data, about 2.2 per cent of Australia's 24 million people are Muslim.