Sydney – In a dramatic and highly controversial move, far-right Australian senator Pauline Hanson was suspended from parliament for one week on Tuesday, 26 November 2025, after she entered the Senate chamber wearing a full black burqa the previous day.
Kabul 24: The leader of the anti-immigration One Nation party removed the garment mid-session and called for an immediate nationwide ban on face-covering Islamic veils in all public places.With a decisive vote of 46 to 7, senators backed the suspension – the first time in recent memory a parliamentarian has been punished solely for their choice of attire during a provocative political stunt.On Monday, Hanson quietly took her seat draped head-to-toe in a burqa before standing, walking to the centre of the chamber, and dramatically removing it in front of the presiding officer. “If I, a senator, feel oppressed and unsafe in this garment,” she declared, “how must ordinary Australian women feel? It’s time to ban the burqa and niqab in all public spaces!”The stunt triggered immediate outrage. Labor Senate leader Penny Wong condemned it as “a shameful, racist circus act,” while Greens senators called it “Islamophobic theatre.” Even some members of the conservative Coalition described the performance as “unbecoming of the chamber.”
Only Hanson’s One Nation colleague Malcolm Roberts strongly defended her, arguing she had “bravely exposed the genuine concerns of millions of Australians about cultural integration and security.”After heated debate, Senate President Sue Lines, in consultation with party leaders, moved a rare motion to suspend Hanson for seven days for “contempt of the Senate and conduct likely to inflame community division.”
The motion passed swiftly.Speaking to reporters outside Parliament House, an unrepentant Hanson vowed: “They can silence me for a week, but they can’t silence the Australian people. I’ll be back – and I’ll table my burqa ban bill the very next day.”The incident has reignited Australia’s long-running and deeply polarising debate over multiculturalism, women’s rights, and religious dress.
Recent polls show the country remains almost evenly split: 49% support banning full-face coverings in public, while 44% view such measures as an attack on personal freedom.
For Hanson, a political firebrand who has thrived on controversy for nearly three decades, the week-long banishment is unlikely to quiet her – and may only amplify her message ahead of the next federal election
