Pauline Hanson censured, suspended from Senate for a week

3 months ago 20

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been formally censured for wearing a burqa in the Senate and suspended from the chamber for a week, a rare rebuke that united Labor and Coalition MPs against the populist senator.

Hanson joined a handful of MPs who have been reprimanded in the symbolically powerful manner in recent years: former senator David Leyonhjelm was censured for sexist remarks in 2018; former prime minister Scott Morrison was censured in the House of Representatives over his secret ministries in 2022; and Lidia Thorpe was formally rebuked for gatecrashing King Charles’ visit to Parliament House last year.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson before being suspended from the Senate on Tuesday.

As part of the censure motion, Hanson was given five minutes to make a statement to the chamber, condemning the decision taken yesterday to deny her leave to table a motion to ban burqas and other full-face coverings.

“You denied me and the people of Australia to have that voice. You chose to shut it down. This is not the first time you’ve done it to me. You’ve done it a number of times,” Hanson said.

“The senators that are elected by the Australian people, you dare question me over my respect for this place, the senators in this place have no respect for the Australian people.”

Hanson was suspended from the Senate yesterday for her burqa stunt, the second time she had worn the traditional garment into chamber – she was rebuked for the same provocation in 2017.

Senator Pauline Hanson leaves the Senate after being suspended for seven days.

She condemned her fellow senators as “hypocrites” for censuring her after shutting down debate about outlawing burqas.

As Labor Senate Leader Penny Wong asked the rhetorical question “Do all Christians hate Muslims”, United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet called out “I do” to jeers from his fellow senators.

“For a senator to punch down on a Muslim kid, that’s the effect of your words, that is un-Australian. That is un-Australian,” Wong said to Hanson.

The censure motion passed with 55 votes for and just five against – Hanson, Babet and the three other One Nation senators. The original motion was separated at the request of the Coalition, with the opposition voting against Hanson being banned from going on parliamentary overseas trips until after the next election.

At the passing of the censure motion, Foreign Minister Penny Wong raised a motion to have Hanson suspended from the chamber for the next seven days. After a division was called to vote on Hanson’s punishment, Hanson called out: “Cancel the division, the people will judge me at the next election.”

She left the chamber to smatterings of applause from the public gallery, later holding a press conference in the Senate courtyard. Hanson said she would be standing again at the next election and insisted the censure motion “doesn’t worry me, not at all”.

“I’ll stand my ground on what I believe in. I will continue to do so, and, you know, it will be the people that will judge me. I will be standing for the next election in Queensland, and I will let the people of Queensland judge me whether I have earned my place to be re-elected again or not,” Hanson told journalists.

One Nation’s polling is at a record high, receiving a primary vote of 12 per cent in the latest Resolve Political Monitor from this masthead and record popularity in News Corp’s Newspoll and the AFR Redbridge/Accent polls. Hanson is actively aiming to recruit Joyce, who told this masthead One Nation had “a purer form of understandable conservatism”. Joyce and Hanson had dinner together in the One Nation leader’s office on Monday night.

Joyce reiterated his position earlier on Monday that he would not make a decision on his future during this final sitting week of parliament for the year.

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