Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much. This censure motion, at (8), says:

Censures Senator Hanson for her actions, which do not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people.

I reject that completely. To say that I don't have respect for people of faith—I reject that as well. I have stood up for the Jewish people of this community. I'm not Jewish. But the way they were treated by some of the people in this chamber, including the Greens wearing a keffiyeh, wasn't pulled up at all. The whole fact is that everyone has a right to their own faith, and I respect section 116 of the Australian Constitution, where the Commonwealth cannot impose any religious observance on anyone.

I must inform my fellow senators who say the burqa is a religious requirement that it's not. Wearing the burqa is not a religious requirement. The burqa is culturally worn by some people of Islamic faith, but it is not a religious requirement. It has been imposed on women who are forced to wear it by their husbands, brothers, fathers, whatever; they're forced to wear it. I think it's so hypocritical that you're supposed to be defending women's rights but you're not fighting for these women being forced to wear a burqa, full-face coverings, against their will.

I think Senator Faruqi is calling the kettle black, after her racism on the floor when protesting against the Palestinians. And I've never called anyone by their skin colour, as I have been accused of. (Time expired)