SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian far-right Senator Pauline Hanson wore a burqa to Parliament on Monday as a political prop in her push to ban the Muslim garment in public, sparking accusations of racism from Muslim senators over the stunt.
Hanson wore the burqa shortly after she was denied permission to introduce a bill that would outlaw burqas and other full-face coverings in public places in Australia.
It was the second time Hanson had used the head garment, worn by some Muslim women, in parliament in an effort to ban the public wearing of burqas.
The Senate erupted in anger as she walked into the chamber wearing the burqa, and proceedings were suspended when Hanson refused to remove it.
“This is a racist senator, displaying blatant racism,” said Muslim Mehreen Faruqi, a Greens senator from the state of New South Wales.
Muslim Fatima Payman, an independent senator from the state of Western Australia, called the stunt “disgraceful”.
Both Penny Wong, leader of Australia’s centre-left Labor government in the Senate, and Anne Ruston, deputy Senate leader for the opposition coalition, condemned Hanson’s actions.
Wong called them “not worthy of a member of the Australian Senate” and moved a motion to suspend Hanson for failing to remove the garment. After Hanson refused to leave, Senate proceedings were suspended.
Hanson, a senator for Queensland, first rose to prominence in the 1990s because of her strident opposition to immigration from Asia and to asylum seekers, and has long campaigned against Islamic clothing during her parliamentary career.
She previously wore a burqa to parliament in 2017, also calling for a national ban at the time.
Hanson’s One Nation party has four seats in the Senate, gaining two in May’s general election amid rising support for far-right anti-immigration policies.
In a statement later posted on Facebook, Hanson said her actions were in protest at the Senate rejecting her proposed bill.
“So if the Parliament won’t ban it, I will display this oppressive, radical, non-religious head garb that risks? our national security and the ill-treatment of women on the floor of our parliament so that every Australian knows what’s at stake,” Hanson said in the statement.
“If they don’t want me wearing it – ban the burqa.”
(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)
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