George Floyd protests: Pauline Hanson calls for Senate to note ‘all lives matter’

Pauline Hanson has let rip in parliament today, after the Morrison government moved to quash debate on her “all lives matter” motion.

Pauline Hanson has unleashed in the Senate after the Morrison Government moved to quash debate on her motion that “all lives matter”.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann moved to deny debate on the motion shortly after question time.

It follows controversy two years ago when he blamed “an admin error” on the Coalition backing her motion that it was “OK to be white”.

Determined not to let that happen again, Senator Cormann moved today to ensure the motion, a reference to the Black Lives Matters protests, was not debated.

Confronted by the fact her motion was set to be scuttled, Senator Hanson said she had never seen such tactics with Labor and the Coalition joining forces to deny the motion.

“I cannot believe you are not prepared to put this to a vote,’’ she said. “People in this chamber are too gutless to stand up. All lives matter.

“You don’t care about all lives matter. Otherwise, you would put it and you would vote on it. What are you so concerned about? Our nation is made up of many races of people.”

Earlier, Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong explained why she did not plan to debate the concept, which had become a catch cry in the US for critics of the BLM protests.

“There are some things that we do not want to import,’’ Senator Wong said.

The question Pauline Hanson will put to the Senate

Protests kicked off across the world late last month after George Floyd, an African American man, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who kept his knee pressed onto Mr Floyd’s neck despite him repeatedly saying he couldn’t breathe.

The protests have triggered meaningful change in the US – including a promise from Minneapolis to completely overhaul its police department – but have also kicked off an unfounded argument from some white people that the Black Lives Matter movement means their lives no longer matter.

Tens of thousands of Australians attended protests across the country over the weekend in solidarity with the US – and to also bring attention to the more than 400 Indigenous deaths in custody.

Senator Hanson has attacked the Black Lives Matter movement a number of times – the latest being today’s Notice Of Motion.

The One Nation leader tweeted the motion this morning.

SENATE VOTES - DO ALL LIVES MATTER?

Today @OneNationAus leader Pauline Hanson will ask the Australian Senate to answer a very simple question- do all lives matter?#OneNation #AllLivesMatter #Auspol pic.twitter.com/7VGYajGHJ9

— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) June 10, 2020

Senator Hanson lashed the protests during a debate in the Senate yesterday.

“No one could possibly condone the way in which George Floyd died but what upsets me is the attitude of many people, black and white that his death matters more because he is black,” she said.

“More whites die in Australia and America in relation to deaths in custody than blacks. That's a fact. But where is the outrage for white people?

“When a white 40-year-old Australian-American woman by the name of Justine Damond was shot there was no protest, no one really cared because she was white.”

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson addresses the Black Lives Matter protests. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP

The police officer who shot Ms Damond was convicted of murder last year, the first of its kind, and hundreds of people – in the US and Australia – attended vigils to remember her.

Senator Hanson continues to stoke racial tensions across Australia, once wearing a burqa in parliament and introducing a motion in 2018 to declare “it’s OK to be white”.

The One Nation leader’s comments on the Black Lives Matter protests have been slapped down by fellow politicians – including Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi.

Ms Faruqi, who was one of the 20,000 people to attend Sydney’s Black Lives Matter protest on Saturday, said she had a message for Senator Hanson and any other politicians criticising those who attended.

“My response is this – there’s no doubt that COVID-19 is dangerous but so is systemic racism and we are potentially at a global, historical turning point to change this. We simply can’t waste it,” Ms Faruqi told parliament.

I proudly attended the #BlackLivesMatter rally in Sydney on unceded Gadigal land. Here's what I had to say to Pauline Hanson's attempt to shame activists. pic.twitter.com/sr6j6f2beW

— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) June 10, 2020