Key Points
- Amended censure motion against One Nation's Pauline Hanson passes Senate
- Senator Hanson refused to apologise to fellow Senator Mehreen Faruqi and offered to 'take her to the airport'
This story contains strong language.
Pauline Hanson has declared she’s not racist while doubling down on her comments telling Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to "p--- off back to Pakistan".
On 9 September, the One Nation senator used expletives on Twitter in reply to Senator Mehreen Faruqi's recent criticism of the British monarchy, telling the Pakistan-born Australian to go back to her country of birth.
The Greens sought to censure Senator Hanson over "her divisive, anti-migrant and racist statement" in the Senate on Tuesday. The motion passed after being amended by the government and Opposition.
But it wasn't before the One Nation leader refused to apologise for the remark.
'Scumbag' heard in Senate chamber
“I will not, NOT retract what I have told Senator Faruqi or any other Australian that’s come here for a new way of life to disrespect what is Australian to me," Senator Hanson said.
“And she can ... go where I have said. I make the offer as well, to take her to the airport.”
Immediately after her comment, there was an audible groan from a Senator in the chamber, accompanied by the words "scumbag".
Mehreen Faruqi criticises Hanson comments
Senator Faruqi, moving the motion, said there was a backlash against her and her family, with people calling her husband's workplace to reiterate similar comments.
"Many migrants let me know how triggered they felt. It never gets easier to deal with racist attacks," she told the Senate on Wednesday under parliamentary privilege.
"It is insulting and it is humiliating."
Senator Faruqi said Senator Hanson had crossed the line between robust public debate and racism.
"I and everyone like me ... have every right to participate in public debate," the NSW representative said.
"I will not be silenced, especially on the topic of the British monarch and monarchy.
"The truth about the empire must be told. I have the right to talk about this history without being racially vilified."
Malaysian-born minister Penny Wong told the upper house Senator Hanson's comments were "appalling".
Senator Wong said racist attacks were an "attack on democracy because fundamentally what it is saying is you are not equal".
Senator Hanson defended herself, saying she didn't refer to Senator Faruqi's race.
"This has just been pure, spectacular hypocrisy," she said.
"(Greens) senator (Lidia) Thorpe yelled at me in this very chamber to go back to where I came from.
"This is blatant reverse racism."
I'm not racist, Pauline Hanson says
Senator Hanson denied she was racist, saying she didn't see herself as superior to any other race and would continue to call out anti-Australian remarks.
"Criticism is not racism," she said.
"If I was a racist I wouldn't have people from different backgrounds (on my election ticket)."
Senator Wong said a censure motion couldn't be the standard response to social media comments and remarks outside the chamber.
The amended motion condemned racism "in all its forms" and "called on all senators to engage in debates and commentary respectfully".
