Pauline Hanson, an Australian senator and leader of the anti-immigration party One Nation, saw some crazy backlash today and she wore a complete, head-to-toe, burqa in Parliament today for over 10 minutes as a sort of protest to push an anti-face cover ban (on national security grounds) she and her party are seeking.
Hanson stated, “I’m quite happy to remove this because this is not what should belong in this Parliament,” she said.
Hanson, a known fan of President Trump, added “There has been a large majority of Australians [who] wish to see the banning of the burqa.”
Some criticism came from Attorney General George Brandis as he shot this down calling it a “stunt that offended Australia’s Muslim minority” and drew a standing ovation for this.
“To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do and I would ask you to reflect on what you have done,” Brandis said.
Opposition Senate leader Penny Wong told Hanson: “It is one thing to wear religious dress as a sincere act of faith; it is another to wear it as a stunt here in the Senate.”
Then Hanson drew more criticism from the mainstream media, specifically Labor MP Anne Aly of Sky News Australia, saying “a mockery of our Parliament.”
“All this was a stunt designed to get attention for Pauline Hanson because that’s all she wants,” Aly said.
Another opposition senator, Sam Dastyari, and an Iranian-born Muslim, said: “We have seen the stunt of all stunts in this chamber by Sen. Hanson.”
He added: “The close to 500,000 Muslim Australians do not deserve to be targeted, do not deserve to be marginalized, do not deserve to be ridiculed, do not deserve to have their faith made some political point by the desperate leader of a desperate political party.”