Party Games: Pauline Hanson achieves her aim with burqa stunt in Senate

IT was always going to take something to outdo the conspiracy theories and crises in the House of Representatives this week but but we should have remembered the Senate has its own secret weapon: Pauline Hanson.

• Pauline Hanson burqa: One Nation senator wears burqa to Senate
• Pauline Hanson burqa: Brandis tears up at stunt
• Pauline Hanson burqa: Hanson’s speech to Senate

IT was always going to take something to outdo the conspiracy theories and constitutional crises in the House of Representatives this week but we should have remembered the Senate has its own secret weapon.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson — once called a walking billboard by a Liberal MP — took one look at Barnaby Joyce and his New Zealand problems and said “I can top that”.

Just after 2pm, Hanson walked into the Senate wearing a full black burqa over her head and her black dress.

After dramatically removing it, she asked the government to ban the burqa on national security grounds, copping one of the most impassioned responses from Senator George Brandis, who rejected the stunt and called the mocking of religious garb an “appalling thing to do”.

She will achieve her aim — a big run on the broadcast media and in tomorrows papers.

The fact she was, soon after Question Time, walking jauntily along the Senate corridors with a knowing smile tells us all we need to know.

Hanson’s One Nation base — which represents about 10 to 20 per cent according to the polls — see this as their champion standing up for them and saying things people believe they aren’t allowed to say. It’s seen as a stand against perceived political correctness.

More broadly, people should not underestimate the antipathy in sections of the community to people who demonstrably parade their Islamic faith.

These sentiments might be unfair and unacceptable, but they’re real and Hanson knows it.

Just as Donald Trump knew how to push the “fear of others” buttons in respect of Islam, Mexicans and the Chinese, Hanson can in one momentary stunt flick the switch here, insulting and besmirching one of the world’s great religions.

Those watching Australian politics should never forget this.