Both Penny Wong, leader of Australia’s centre-left Labour government in the Senate, and Anne Ruston, deputy Senate leader for the opposition coalition, condemned Hanson’s actions.
Ms Wong called them “not worthy of a member of the Australian Senate” and moved a motion to suspend Ms Hanson for failing to remove the garment. After Ms Hanson refused to leave, Senate proceedings were suspended.
Ms Hanson, a senator for Queensland, first rose to prominence in the 1990s because of her strident opposition to asylum seekers and immigration from Asia, and has long campaigned against Islamic clothing during her parliamentary career.
In 2006 she said African immigrants were of “no benefit to this country whatsoever” and has called for a ban on Muslims entering Australia, calling Islam “a disease.”
She previously wore a burka to parliament in 2017, also calling for a national ban at the time.
