SYDNEY: A far-right Australian politician sparked outrage Monday after donning a burqa at the country’s parliament, in a display that other lawmakers slammed as “racist.”
Pauline Hanson of the anti-immigration One Nation party was seeking to introduce a bill in the Senate that would ban full face coverings in Australia — a policy she has campaigned on for decades.
Just minutes after other lawmakers blocked her from introducing that bill, she returned wearing a black burqa and sat down.
Her display was meet by outrage from her fellow senators.
Australian Greens leader in the Senate Larissa Waters said the move was “the middle finger to people of faith.”
“It is extremely racist and unsafe,” Waters added.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who also serves as leader of the government in the Senate, condemned it as “disrespectful.”
“All of us in this place have a great privilege in coming into this chamber,” Wong said.
“We represent in our states, people of every faith, of every faith, of all backgrounds. And we should do so decently.”
Hanson refused to remove the burqa and the Senate was suspended.
It is the second time she has donned the Muslim clothing in parliament.
In 2017, she wore a full burqa in the Senate to highlight what she said were the security issues the garment posed, linking it to terror.
Hanson has described Islam as “a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own.”
Her party has increased support as the country’s main conservative opposition remain beset by infighting, with a poll this month reported by The Australian Financial Review showing them with a record 18 percent support.
That comes as a government envoy said in September that Australia had failed to tackle persistent and intensifying Islamophobia.
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Australian far-right senator wears burqa to parliament, sparking outrage
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Australian far-right senator wears burqa to parliament, sparking outrage
- A far-right Australian politician sparked outrage Monday after donning a burqa at the country’s parliament, in a display that other lawmakers slammed as “racist“
French first lady Brigitte Macron visits an old friend in China: A giant panda called Yuan Meng
CHENGDU: French first lady Brigitte Macron caught up with an old friend — a giant panda born in France — at the tail end Friday of a visit to China with President Emmanuel Macron.
At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home, the first lady marveled at how big he has grown. She helped chose his name — which means “accomplishment of a dream” — when he was born in a French zoo in 2017.
“When they’re born, they’re like this,” she said, holding up two fingers a short distance apart. Meanwhile, the chunky male roamed in his enclosure, feasting on bamboo and ignoring bystanders who cried out his name, hoping to elicit a reaction.
“They have a very independent character,” she said. “They do only what they want.”
For decades, China has deployed what’s often called “panda diplomacy” to smooth and promote relations with other countries, gifting the animals to friendly nations and lending pandas to zoos overseas on commercial terms.
Emmanuel Macron’s state visit this week to China, his fourth as president, included meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials, discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade ties and other issues.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association said during the visit that it signed a letter of intent to send two of the animals to the Beauval Zoo south of Paris in 2027 under what would be a new 10-year round of panda cooperation with France.
The French zoo sent two 17-year-old pandas — Huan Huan, a female, and her partner Yuan Zi — back to China last month after 13 years on loan in France.
Yuan Meng was their cub, conceived using artificial insemination.
Despite being made in France, he officially belonged to the Chinese government. Yuan Meng bid ‘’adieu’’ to France in 2023, sent off to a new life in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China where Brigitte Macron, considered to be his “godmother,” dropped in to see him.
Huan Huan and Yuan Zi also produced female twins in France in 2021.
Huanlili and Yuandudu are also expected to leave the Beauval Zoo for China in the future. The China Wildlife Conservation Association has previously said that it expects them to remain at the French zoo until January 2027.
At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home, the first lady marveled at how big he has grown. She helped chose his name — which means “accomplishment of a dream” — when he was born in a French zoo in 2017.
“When they’re born, they’re like this,” she said, holding up two fingers a short distance apart. Meanwhile, the chunky male roamed in his enclosure, feasting on bamboo and ignoring bystanders who cried out his name, hoping to elicit a reaction.
“They have a very independent character,” she said. “They do only what they want.”
For decades, China has deployed what’s often called “panda diplomacy” to smooth and promote relations with other countries, gifting the animals to friendly nations and lending pandas to zoos overseas on commercial terms.
Emmanuel Macron’s state visit this week to China, his fourth as president, included meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials, discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade ties and other issues.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association said during the visit that it signed a letter of intent to send two of the animals to the Beauval Zoo south of Paris in 2027 under what would be a new 10-year round of panda cooperation with France.
The French zoo sent two 17-year-old pandas — Huan Huan, a female, and her partner Yuan Zi — back to China last month after 13 years on loan in France.
Yuan Meng was their cub, conceived using artificial insemination.
Despite being made in France, he officially belonged to the Chinese government. Yuan Meng bid ‘’adieu’’ to France in 2023, sent off to a new life in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China where Brigitte Macron, considered to be his “godmother,” dropped in to see him.
Huan Huan and Yuan Zi also produced female twins in France in 2021.
Huanlili and Yuandudu are also expected to leave the Beauval Zoo for China in the future. The China Wildlife Conservation Association has previously said that it expects them to remain at the French zoo until January 2027.
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