Federal Parliament’s final sitting week for 2025 was far from quiet, after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson wore a burqa in the Senate on Monday.

By Tuesday afternoon, Hanson had been censured and suspended from Parliament.

The move has reignited national debate about religious freedom, political accountability, and the boundaries of acceptable parliamentary conduct.

Here's what happened and why it matters.

Pauline Hanson is the founder and leader of One Nation, a conservative political party.

She is best known for her anti-immigration stance and right-wing stance on several issues. 

Hanson was elected to the House of Representatives (lower house) in 1996 as an independent, but lost her seat in 1998. 

She ran for a Queensland Senate seat at the 2001 election but was unsuccessful.

In 2003, Hanson was jailed for electoral fraud and served 11 weeks behind bars. Hanson was freed after she successfully appealed the result, and her convictions were overturned.

In 2011, she ran for election to the NSW upper house, but failed. In 2015, she fell 200 votes short of securing a seat in Queensland Parliament.

It wasn’t until 2016 that Hanson’s political comeback was secured when she successfully ran for the federal upper house. Since then, she’s continued to serve as a Senator for Queensland.

On Monday, Hanson attempted to introduce a private member's bill that would ban burqas and other full-face coverings in public places across Australia. 

Burqas are a garment worn by some Muslim women. They cover a woman’s body and face, and usually include a mesh panel over the eyes. 

The Government blocked Hanson’s bill from even being debated, refusing to allow it to be tabled. Later that day, Hanson entered the Senate chamber wearing a full black burqa.

The chamber erupted with condemnation from fellow senators who labelled the act “disrespectful” and “racist”. Independent Senator Fatima Payman, a Muslim woman, called it a “disgraceful” display.

When Hanson refused to leave the chamber, the Senate was suspended for around 90 minutes.

Monday’s actions may have felt familiar to Australians who remember when Hanson pulled the exact same stunt in 2017. The One Nation leader also advocated for a burqa ban at that time, “in light of what is happening with national security,” she said.

“Terrorism is a true threat to our country. Many Australians are very much in fear of it,” Hanson told the Senate during Question Time.

Then-Attorney General George Brandis rebutted Hanson’s claims, telling her the “vast majority” of “Australians in this country of the Islamic faith… are law-abiding, good Australians.”

“To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do, and I would ask you to reflect on what you have done,” Brandis said.

On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong moved a censure motion against Hanson. Censure motions are formal expressions of parliamentary disapproval, and while they don't carry legal penalties, they are rare and symbolic.

The Senate voted 40 to 25 to censure Hanson, with the motion stating her actions were “intended to vilify and mock people on the basis of their religion.”

The censure motion condemned her behaviour and criticised her for “disregarding the authority of the Senate”.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, one of two Muslim Parliamentarians in the Senate, called for the censure to mark “the start of actually dealing with structural and systemic racism that pervades this country.” 

When asked to apologise, Hanson refused. Instead, she used her allotted five minutes to defend her actions, stating senators had “no respect for the Australian people.”

She was then suspended for seven consecutive Senate sitting days. Because Parliament finished for the year on Thursday, her suspension will continue when the chamber reconvenes in February 2026.

The suspension also bars Hanson from representing the Senate in any overseas delegations during this parliamentary term. 

Hanson has consistently framed her campaign against the burqa around three claims: national security, women's rights, and cultural cohesion.

She told reporters she believes many women are forced to wear the garment against their will. When pressed by journalists to provide evidence linking burqas to security threats, Hanson has not produced concrete examples, instead arguing that she represents “a large” number who want to see the garment banned.

Following her suspension, Hanson continued to defend the action as necessary to highlight what she called “genuine security risks” and the “oppression of women”.

Hanson claims the suspension doesn’t worry her. “I stand my ground, and what I believe in, I will continue to do so,” she told reporters.

Recent polling shows her party, One Nation, is experiencing a surge in popularity among voters.

The latest Newspoll, published in The Australian, shows 15% of voters would put One Nation ahead of any other party if an election were held today.

Roy Morgan polling for November showed similar findings, with a 2% increase in primary support for One Nation to 14%, “its highest level of support for over 27 years since July 1998.”

Last year, the research group said a growing number of “disaffected Australians” are being “drawn to alternative political voices in the current landscape”.

Parliament will return in February.

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