Australian senator suspended for rest of year after wearing Burqa in Parliament protest

Hanson, 71, leads the anti-immigration One Nation party and has long campaigned for prohibiting full-face coverings in public places.

She walked into the chamber on Monday dressed in a head-to-ankle burqa to demonstrate against fellow lawmakers’ refusal to consider her bill to ban the garment. Senators condemned the move as a disrespectful stunt, suspending her for the rest of the day.

Hanson refused to apologise, prompting the Senate on Tuesday to pass a censure motion that bars her for seven consecutive sitting days—a penalty rarely imposed in recent decades.

With Parliament rising for the year on Thursday, her suspension will carry over until it reconvenes in February.

Speaking to reporters later, Hanson said she would ultimately be judged by voters at the next election in 2028, not by her colleagues.

She accused the Senate of hypocrisy, saying, “They didn’t want to ban the burqa, yet they denied me the right to wear it in Parliament,” AP reported.

The protest sparked strong criticism. Senate leader Penny Wong, who moved the censure motion, said that Hanson’s act “mocked and vilified an entire faith” practiced by nearly one million Australians.

She warned that such displays “tear at our social fabric” and harm vulnerable communities, including young people.

Pakistan-born senator Mehreen Faruqi, one of only two Muslims in the chamber along with Afghanistan-born Fatima Payman, said Hanson's actions reflected deeper systemic issues.

Payman, who wears a hijab, confronted Hanson on Monday, calling the stunt “disgraceful” and “a shame.”

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils also criticised the protest, describing it as part of a pattern that has “repeatedly vilified Muslims, migrants and minorities.”

Hanson previously caused uproar in 2017 when she wore a burqa into the Senate in a similar demonstration, though she faced no disciplinary action at the time. Her political career has long been marked by controversial remarks about race and immigration, dating back to her first parliamentary speech in 1996.