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Pauline Hanson turns up to Parliament in full burqa

ONE Nation leader Pauline Hanson turned up to the Senate wearing a full face covering amid gasps. Now’s she’s explained why.

Benedict Brook and Malcolm Farr
5 min read
August 17, 2017 - 6:51PM
Pauline Hanson turns up to Parliament in a burqa

PAULINE Hanson has admitted the stunt she pulled, where she entered the Senate covered head to toe in a burqa, was “extreme”. But she’s unrepentant saying any anger it may have sparked was fine as it started a debate about face coverings.

Hanson has also suggested “these people” who wear burqas “should go to a country that suits their needs”.

The incident on Thursday is the latest round in Hanson’s battle against the burqa.

Hanson said she wasn’t challenged as to her identity. Although she has conceded security may have suspected the One Nation leader was beneath the face covering.

Gasps of “what on earth?” could be heard from the Senate as she sat down. Attorney-General George Brandis looked bemused by the spectacle and later berated Hanson for “mocking” law abiding Australian Muslims.

On Sydney radio station 2GB she said the burqa was “un-Australian”.

MORE: Austrian police force women to uncover their faces as country’s ‘burqa ban’ comes into force

Talking to presenter Ben Fordham, she said, “Is it extreme? yes. Is it getting my point across? I hope so.”

Pauline Hanson: Before and after.
Pauline Hanson: Before and after.

Hanson said she entered the Senate without being checked.

“No security guards at any point in time asked to see my face,” she said.

“One of the attendants on the floor of parliament, he just gasped.

“He did not ask to see my face. Apparently they were told I was going to do it, they did not check if it was me.”

She said that in five years or more time, Australian women might be forced to wear the burqa. “This is a western country. If these people want to dress up, go to a country that suits your needs.”

Senator Hanson also claimed Greens Senator Peter Whish Wilson shook her hand in the corridor while she was wearing the burqa. He’d never greeted her or shaken her hand previously.

Senator Whish Wilson told BuzzFeed he did shake Hanson’s hand but said he had no idea who was under the material and was now “totally weirded out by it”.

He said the amount of security around Hanson led him to believe a Muslim woman, who was entitled to be in parliament, was being harrased so he wanted to support her.

An expert on Islam has said Hansons’s remarks could incite hatred towards women.

Director of the Institute for Religion, Politics and Society at Australian Catholic University, Dr Joshua Roose, said, “knowing that Muslim women are likely to be targeted in verbal and physical attacks due to their more recognisable appearance, Senator Hanson’s stunt is likely to directly and indirectly increase the risk of violence towards Muslim communities.”

As she entered the chamber, Senator Derryn Hinch immediately took exception.

“We’ve been assured by you that the Clerk (of the Senate) has identified this person here as Senator Hanson,” said.

“As a point of order I would like to know if Senator Hanson can stay here unchallenged. I understand she is not a Muslim. She is not of the Islamic faith.

“Can I appear tomorrow in fancy dress unchallenged?

Senate President Stephen Parry said he wouldn’t tell senators what to wear.

In a statement on her Facebook page, the noted critic of Islam said she had attended Question Time “dressed modestly in a full burqa” and would deliver a speech calling for the Government to ban full face coverings in public.

“Senator Hanson said that she believed that full face covering, such as the burqa, were oppressive, presented barriers to assimilation, disadvantaged women from finding employment, were causing issues inside our justice system, presented a clear security threat and had no place in modern Western society,” the statement read.

Attorney-General George Brands, centre, was not amused.
Attorney-General George Brands, centre, was not amused.

The stunt continued when Senator Hanson removed the covering to ask Brandis if the burqa could be banned as a matter of national security.

She was told “No” by Senator Brandis who criticised her for “mocking” religious garments.

He was given a standing ovation by Labor senators, and was congratulated by Labor Leader Penny Wong, and was given applause from his own Coalition side.

The Attorney-General said: “Senator Hanson no, we will not be banning the burqa.

“Now Senator Hanson, I’m not going to pretend to ignore the stunt you have tried to pull today by arriving in the Chamber dressed in a burqa, when we all know you are not an adherent of the Islamic faith.

“And I would caution you and counsel you Senator Hanson, with respect, to be very, very careful of the offence you may do to the religious sensibilities of other Australians.

Ta dah! It was Pauline Hanson all along. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch.
Ta dah! It was Pauline Hanson all along. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch.

“We have about half a million Australians of the Islamic faith in this country, and the vast majority of them are law-abiding good Australians.

“Senator Hanson, it is absolutely consistent with being a good, law-abiding Australian and being a strict adherent Muslim.”

At one point Senator Brandis could be seen to choke back tears.

Senator Hanson had couched her call for a ban on national security lines.

“In light of our national security of this nation, will you work with me to actually ban the burqa in Australia considering there have been 13 foiled national threats against us with terrorism, three that have been successful that Australians have lost their lives.

“Terrorism is a true threat to our country. Many Australians are in fear of it.

“What I would like to ask on behalf of the Australian people, considering there has been a large majority of Australians wish to see the banning of the burqa.”

Her time to ask the question then ran out.

The stunt comes just days after the Trump administration called out Hanson for her anti-Muslim rhetoric.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson introduced his department’s annual report on global religious freedom.

Tillerson reserved his deepest criticism for the terrorists of Islamic State.

But turn to the page on religious freedom in Australia and it’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation that gets the most focus.

The 2016 International Religious Freedom Report noted the election of four One Nation senators and that their campaign platform included “ceasing Muslim immigration, holding a royal commission on Islam, halting construction of mosques, installing surveillance cameras in mosques, banning wearing of the burqa and niqab in public places, and prohibiting members of parliament from being sworn in under the Koran.”

The report turned to Ms Hanson in particular.

“In her first senate speech, One Nation Party Leader Pauline Hanson said the country was ‘in danger of being swamped by Muslims.’”

It contrasted Hanson’s speech with that of the PM. “Malcolm Turnbull disagreed with her views and said ‘my commitment is to an inclusive multicultural society which is based on mutual respect. The more we respect each other the more secure we become,’” the report added.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/national/pauline-hanson-turns-up-to-parliament-in-full-burqa/news-story/c04fe220ba1722f63fe9e321c7cd50f8