Australian Senator Pauline Hanson was removed from Parliament for the remainder of the year after entering the Senate chamber wearing a burqa as part of her renewed push for a nationwide ban on the garment.

Hanson, 71, who leads the anti-Muslim and anti-immigration One Nation party, walked into the chamber on Monday covered from head to toe to highlight her frustration over colleagues’ rejection of her bill seeking to outlaw burqas and other full-face coverings in public. Lawmakers deemed the act disrespectful and suspended her for the rest of the day.

When she refused to apologize, senators on Tuesday approved a censure motion imposing one of the toughest penalties seen in decades—barring her from seven consecutive sitting days. As Parliament ends its yearly session on Thursday, the suspension will carry over when it reconvenes in February.

Hanson later told reporters she would ultimately be accountable to voters in the 2028 elections, not to fellow legislators. She criticized the decision as hypocritical, arguing that Parliament has no specific dress code.

Hanson sparked similar outrage in 2017 with a burqa protest but faced no sanctions at the time.

Senate leader Penny Wong, who introduced the censure motion, said Hanson’s actions mocked nearly one million Australian Muslims and harmed social cohesion. Fellow Muslim senators Mehreen Faruqi and Fatima Payman also condemned her behavior.

Hanson is currently appealing a ruling that found she violated racial discrimination laws in a previous post targeting Faruqi. Advocacy groups, including the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said her latest act fits a long pattern of targeting minorities.

Source: AP