Australian senator barred for burqa protest

An Australian senator who is campaigning for a national burqa ban was barred Tuesday from Parliament for the rest of the year for wearing the Muslim garment in the chamber.

- Rod McGuirk

MICK TSIKAS AAP Image ONE NATION leader Pauline Hanson wears a burqa in Australia's Senate chamber Monday in Canberra.

Pauline Hanson, the 71-year-old leader of the anti-Muslim, anti-immigration One Nation minor party, was accused of performing a disrespectful stunt Monday when she walked into the Senate shrouded in the head-to-ankle garment to protest fellow senators’ refusal to consider her bill that would ban the burga and other full-face coverings in public places.

Senators suspended her for the rest of the day on Monday. In the absence of an apology, they passed a censure motion Tuesday that carried one of the harshest penalties against a senator in recent decades. She was barred from seven consecutive Senate sitting days.

The Senate arises for the year on Thursday and Hanson’s suspension will continue when Parliament resumes in February next year.