Senator banned after wearing burqa in far-right protest in middle of parliament | News World

A senator who’s campaigning for a national burqa ban has been barred from Parliament for the remaining of the 12 months for wearing the Muslim garment within the chamber.

Pauline Hanson, the 71-year-old leader of the anti-Muslim, anti-immigration One Nation party, was accused of performing a disrespectful stunt on Monday.

She waltzed into the Senate shrouded in a head-to-ankle garment to protest against fellow senators’ refusal to think about her Bill that might ban the burqa and other full-face coverings in public places.

Senators suspended her for the remaining of the day on Monday.

Within the absence of an apology, they passed a censure motion on Tuesday that carried one among the harshest penalties against a senator in recent many years, as she was barred from seven consecutive Senate sitting days.

She later took off the black garment, claiming she wanted it banned for ‘national security’.

The stunt has cost her a couple of months sitting in parliament. When Parliament resumes next February, she is going to still be suspended.

‘They didn’t wish to ban the burqa, yet they denied me the suitable to wear it on the ground of Parliament,’ Hanson told reporters after.

‘There isn’t a dress code on the ground of Parliament, yet I’m not allowed to wear it. So to me, it’s been hypocritical.’

Why is Australia debating banning the burqa?

It’s not the primary time Hanson has floated a bill wanting to ban the burqa. Hanson previously wore a burqa on the Senate floor in 2017 in a bid to ban the garment, but wasn’t punished on the time.

She’s long campaigned to outlaw full face coverings in public, including the burqa. In 2016, she cited fear that her country was ‘being swamped by Muslims’ as a reason for the ban.

Hanson also says it’s a national security and terror risk, making it hard to discover people in the event that they’re wearing garments like a burqa.

She’s also said it oppresses Muslim women, claiming the garment is forced upon them by men.

For reference, around 1,000,000 Australians discover as Muslim, in comparison with a majority of Christians within the country.

Have any countries banned the burqa?

Several nations have banned the burqa.

Algeria, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, China, Denmark, France, Gabon, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, and Latvia all have laws against the garment.

Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan have all also issued bans of some sort.

In most of those cases, the burqa has been banned only in public buildings or schools.

What’s the difference between a burqa and a niqab?

The burqa is a full-body garment that covers the pinnacle and a lot of the face and goes right right down to the feet, but in some places, wearers use mesh in the attention gap for more coverage.

The essential difference between a burka and a niqab is that the niqab doesn’t cover the entire body. It’s a veil that covers the face and head and typically goes right down to just past the shoulders.

This is usually worn with a loose black garment called an abaya that covers the remaining of the body.

A hijab is a shawl that covers the pinnacle and neck but leaves the face open.

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