Pauline Hanson staged a dramatic protest in Australia’s Senate by wearing a burqa on the chamber floor after colleagues blocked her bill to ban face-covering garments in public, sparking outrage, a suspension, and a heated debate about security, women’s rights, and cultural values.
On Monday the Senate session was halted after Hanson walked back into the chamber wearing the full-body Islamic garment she proposes to outlaw. The move came after her proposed legislation banning burqas and other face coverings failed to reach the floor for debate, and it immediately provoked a fierce reaction from other senators. For critics it was an act of provocation; for Hanson it was a deliberate spotlight on what she calls legislative double standards.
Hanson, leader of the One Nation party, described the response as predictable and angry, arguing her stunt exposed lawmakers who refuse to address the consequences of face coverings. She framed the debate in terms of national security and the oppression of women, pointing out that many nations have already restricted similar garments. “The usual hypocrites had an absolute freak out,” Hanson wrote.
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Hanson told the chamber she had left, fetched the burqa, and returned to make her point in person, daring colleagues to back her policy rather than police her protest. “If these hypocrites don’t want me to wear a burqa, they can always support my ban,” she added. The public spectacle forced the Senate to confront the underlying policy fight rather than ignore it.
The display drew immediate condemnation from opponents who saw it as racist and Islamophobic, and the backlash was loud and personal. “This is a racist senator, displaying blatant racism and Islamophobia,” Australia Green party senator Mehreen Faruqi said in response to Hanson’s demonstration.
Other senators also took offense and raised procedural objections, with calls to remove Hanson from the floor for defying decorum. While wearing a hijab, Senator Fatima Payman accused Hanson of discriminating against Muslim Australians and characterized her wearing of the burqa as “unconstitutional,” pressing the point that parliamentary settings must respect all communities.
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Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who leads the government in the Senate, spoke sharply about standards and representation, saying the chamber exists to represent people of all faiths and backgrounds. “We represent in our states people of every faith, of every faith, of all backgrounds. And we should do so decently,” Wong said, and she argued Hanson was “not worthy of a member of the Australian Senate,” moving to suspend her until she left the floor.
The session was suspended and Hanson was barred from speaking while she remained in the burqa, ending the immediate confrontation but not the controversy. That procedural result left both sides claiming vindication: opponents said rules and respect won out, while Hanson said the action underlined her point that debate on face coverings is being shut down.
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On television afterward Hanson doubled down, arguing that the burqa often restricts women’s rights and that many women are forced to wear it against their will, a practice she says clashes with Australian values. She told viewers she does not accept the garment as a necessary religious requirement and urged policies that would encourage assimilation and protect women’s freedoms.
Hanson has used this tactic before, notably in 2017 when she wore a burqa to Parliament during a similar campaign, and she made clear she intends to keep pressing the issue. The episode has reignited debates about cultural integration, security, and what speech and protest should be tolerated inside the nation’s halls of power.
