Pauline Hanson is expected to face a censure motion in the Senate on Monday, with Labor seeking to call out the One Nation leader’s “inflammatory and divisive” recent comments about Australian Muslims.
The Greens will support Labor’s move, with the motion expected to pass, and condemn Hanson to a second censure within four months.
Labor will move to censure Hanson over her comments to Sky News in February, where the One Nation leader said: “You say, ‘Well, there’s good Muslims out there.’ How can you tell me there are good Muslims?”
Hanson refused to apologise for the comments and stood by them in subsequent interviews. But she later issued a partial apology, saying she was sorry if she “offended anyone out there that doesn’t believe in sharia law, or multiple marriages, or wants to bring Isis brides in, or people from Gaza that believe in a caliphate”.
But she then went on to claim: “In general, that is what they want, a world caliphate. And I am not going to apologise.”
Hanson’s divisive comments were harshly criticised across the political spectrum, including by Labor, the Greens, Nationals senator Matt Canavan and Australia’s race discrimination commissioner. Federal police said they had received reports of a “crime” in relation to her comments but legal academics said it was unclear what law could have been breached.
The rightwing populist One Nation is surging in opinion polls, with 22% of respondents to the Guardian Essential poll saying they would vote for Hanson’s party, and nearly 60% saying they were at least open to voting for One Nation at the next federal election.
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Hanson is expected to face a Labor censure motion in the Senate on Monday. The draft government motion, circulated to senators, states that Australia has been “built by the hard work, sacrifice and aspiration of people of every race and faith”, “assures all Australians they are valued, welcome members of our society” and “rejects any attempt to vilify people on the basis of their religion”.
Hanson’s office has been contacted for comment.
The motion states that the Senate “reiterates its solidarity with those who have been vilified because of their faith” and that “if parliament is to be a safe place for all who work and visit here, there can be no tolerance for hate speech in the course of parliamentarians’ public debate”. The motion calls on all senators to “refrain from inflammatory and divisive comments, both inside and outside the chamber”.
It goes on to call on the Senate to censure Hanson over “her inflammatory and divisive comments seeking to vilify Muslim Australians, which do not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people”.
The motion is subject to change, debate and potential amendment. The Greens are expected to support the motion, as is independent senator Lidia Thorpe, which would give the motion enough support to pass the Senate. The Coalition could support the bulk of the motion but may seek to amend it to remove the explicit condemnation of Hanson.
If successful, it would be the second censure motion against Hanson in recent months, after the Senate censured her for her stunt in wearing an Islamic hijab in the chamber in November.
However, Thorpe said Labor’s motion did not go far enough in dealing with racism, instead claiming the government’s tactic was a “a political stunt designed to wedge the Coalition and disrupt their preference negotiations with One Nation in the Farrer byelection.”
Hanson has said she is open to negotiations with the Coalition about election preference deals and closer cooperation in parliament. The Liberal shadow minister, Andrew Hastie, is among Coalition members who are also open to such an arrangement, telling Sky News on Sunday: “One Nation supporters at the moment need to be taken more seriously.”
Asked about a potential preference deal, Hastie said: “I’m fine with that.
“These are normal Australians, and I’m happy to work with anyone on the centre right who wants to deliver better outcomes for the Australian people.”
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