Australian senator wears burqa in Parliament as part of her campaign to get them banned
Attorney General George Brandis stressed that the veil will not be banned in the country.
Far-right Australian senator Pauline Hanson on Thursday faced severe backlash for walking into the Parliament wearing a burqa. The One Nation party leader pulled off the stunt as part of her campaign to get burqa banned in public for national security reasons.
After taking her seat and creating a commotion inside the Senate, Hanson dramatically took off the veil and said, “I am quite happy tor remove this because it is not what should belong in this parliament.”
Hanson was rebuked by Attorney General George Brandis who stressed that the burqa will not be banned in the country. “Senator Hanson, I am not going to pretend to ignore the stunt that you have tried to pull today by arriving in the chamber dressed in a burqa, when we all know you are not an adherent of the Islamic faith,” he said. “To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do,” he said.
Brandis, a member of the ruling Liberal National coalition, received an applause for his speech.
This is not the first time that Hanson has stoked a controversy. In 2016, she had said that Australia was “swamped by Muslim”, reported BBC. She has also openly criticised Asians immigrating to Australia and has been campaigning against the burqa and building of mosques.