After demonstrating her support for a ban on the use of burqas in public, an Australian lawmaker who supports far-right politics has sparked furious racism accusations.
The stunt was carried out on Monday by Pauline Hanson, the party’s populist leader, One Nation, after she was denied the opportunity to introduce a Senate bill to outlaw the traditional Muslim attire and other face coverings from public life in Australia.
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As she donned the burqa and entered the Senate chamber, Hanson was immediately accused of racism and Islamophobia by several lawmakers.
When she refused to take the garment off, proceedings were suspended.
The first Muslim to be elected to the upper chamber of Australia, Australian Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said, “Racism shouldn’t be the choice of the Senate, but the senators may choose it.” “This senator exhibits blatant racism and Islamophobia,” the statement reads.
Senator Fatima Payman, an independent and Muslim, accused Hanson of “disrespecting the Muslims out there, the Muslim Australians,” in a statement released by the Independent.
The leader of Australia’s centre-left Labour government, Penny Wong, moved to suspend Hanson after she declared her actions “not deserving of a seat in the Australian Senate.”
long-running campaign
In parliament, Hanson had twice used a burqa as a prop in support of her long-running campaign to outlaw the wear in public. She wore the outfit in 2017 and then again in 2018.
The Queensland senator gained notoriety in the 1990s as a result of her staunch opposition to immigration from Asia and from asylum seekers.
Her One Nation party now holds four seats in the Senate, having doubled its overall vote participation in May, and seeing a rise in support for its far-right agenda.
Following the events of Monday, Hanson claimed in a Facebook statement that her actions were protesting the Senate’s rejection of her bill.
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Source: Aljazeera
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