Australian Senator Pauline Hanson is barred from Parliament for wearing burqa in protest

Australian Senator Pauline Hanson, who is campaigning for a national burqa ban, was barred Tuesday from Parliament for the rest of the year for wearing the Muslim garment in the chamber.

MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian senator who is campaigning for a national burqa ban was barred Tuesday from Parliament for the rest of the year for wearing the Muslim garment in the chamber.

Pauline Hanson, the 71-year-old leader of the anti-Muslim, anti-immigration One Nation minor party, was accused of performing a disrespectful stunt on Monday when she walked into the Senate shrouded in the head-to-ankle garment to protest fellow senators’ refusal to consider her bill that would ban the burqa and other full-face coverings in public places.

Senators suspended her for the rest of the day on Monday. In the absence of an apology, they passed a censure motion Tuesday that carried one of the harshest penalties against a senator in recent decades. She was barred from seven consecutive Senate sitting days.

The Senate arises for the year on Thursday and Hanson’s suspension will continue when Parliament resumes in February next year.

Australian far-right senator sparks outrage after wearing burqa in parliament01:04Hanson later told reporters that she would be judged by voters at the next election in 2028, not by her Senate colleagues.