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.