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What we learned: Monday, 24 November
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Thanks for reading; Krishani Dhanji will be back first thing tomorrow to keep you company.
Here’s what made news:
Have a good evening.
Updated at 02.40 EST
Special envoy against Islamophobia condemns Hanson’s latest stunt
Australia’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, says he’s frustrated by Pauline Hanson’s stunt in the senate this afternoon.
He just published this statement on social media:
This will deepen existing safety risks for Australian Muslim women who choose to wear the headscarf, the hijab, or the full face and body covering, the burqa (which past estimates placed at around 250 women in all Australia).
They already face harassment, threats of rape, and violence, not because what they have done, but because of what they wear.
Veiled Muslim women have long been easy targets for bigotry and intolerance against Muslims. A proposed burqa ban will further stigmatise them as outsiders and embolden harassment and abuse.
All women should be free to choose what they wear or do not wear.
Updated at 02.30 EST
NSW man found dead in Tasmanian bush
A bushwalker has been found dead in remote southern Tasmania, according to the state’s police force.
In a statement, Tasmania Police said the body was found near Federation Peak shortly before 10am.
The body of the 39-year-old man from New South Wales was retrieved by the crew of a Westpac rescue helicopter early this afternoon.
Emergency services were contacted by the man’s friends earlier today, after he failed to return from a walk as planned yesterday.
In a statement, a police spokesperson said “our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time”.
Updated at 02.18 EST
Senate resumes after Hanson interruption
Josh Butler
The Senate has resumed after more than an hour’s suspension. Pauline Hanson has been suspended from the parliament for the rest of today, after refusing to remove a burqa during a stunt earlier in the afternoon.
“Earlier today, the Senate voted to suspend Senator Hanson for the remainder of the sitting,” the Senate president, Sue Lines, said.
She said she’d met with Hanson, who “understands that message from the Senate chamber”.
The Senate has returned to normal business, but it’s likely more will develop in response to Hanson’s stunt.
Updated at 02.05 EST
BoM issues severe thunderstorm and flash-flooding warning over parts of Queensland
The Bureau of Meteorology is also warning of wild weather and possible giant thunderstorms in south-east Queensland.
Here is its latest warning:
Very dangerous thunderstorms are likely to produce large, possibly giant hailstones, damaging, locally destructive winds and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding over the next several hours in parts of the Wide Bay and Burnett and Southeast Coast districts. Locations which may be affected include Maroochydore, Gympie, Noosa Heads, Nambour, Rainbow Beach and Cooroy.
Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding over the next several hours in parts of the Wide Bay and Burnett and Southeast Coast districts. Locations which may be affected include Brisbane, Caboolture, and Ipswich.
Thunderstorm clouds gather over the Gabba in Brisbane. Photograph: Chris Hyde/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 01.51 EST
Indigenous legal services organisation condemns expanded social security bill powers
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services has condemned the government’s controversial social security bill, which gives police the power to recommend the cancellation of welfare payments for people charged with serious crimes.
The services’ chair, Nerita Waight, says the bill will have a “disproportionate and grave impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”:
Access to social security should never be determined through a policing approach.
There is clear evidence that policing in Australia is not experienced equally. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are disproportionately subject to racial profiling and over-policing practices.
This measure effectively introduces policing powers into the social security system. This represents a significant and concerning policy shift that requires full public scrutiny.
Updated at 01.40 EST
WA residents ordered to evacuate as Cyclone Fina bears down
Residents on Western Australia’s north-east coast have been told to take shelter and prepare for the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Fina.
Emergency WA has issued a cyclone emergency warning for Cambridge Gulf to north of Faraway Bay.
There is a threat to lives and homes. You are in danger and need to act immediately.
Emergency WA has told people in this region to shelter indoors as “it is too late to leave”.
Stay in the strongest, safest part of the building. Stay away from doors and windows, and keep them closed.
Keep your emergency kit with you. Do not go out on the water while cyclone warnings are active as vessels can become overpowered and rescues may not be immediately possible due to the dangerous weather.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology’s latest update, the cyclone is still producing sustained winds of up to 195km/h with wind gusts to 270km/h.
Updated at 01.31 EST
Sea World helicopter crash inquest opens
Panicking relatives and explosion risks confronted police after two joy flight helicopters collided mid-air outside a theme park, a coroner has heard.
Four people died when the two Sea World choppers collided above the Gold Coast Broadwater and crashed on a sandbar in January 2023 during the busy summer holiday season.
Almost three years later, coroner Carol Lee on Monday opened an inquest in Brisbane into 11 critical issues surrounding one of Australia’s worst air disasters.
Justin Dunn, a supervisor with the Gold Coast water police, arrived on scene within minutes. He appeared before the inquest:
It was absolute chaos, it really was.
Members of the public performed CPR on a woman and gave first aid to an injured young boy, Lee heard.
As Dunn approached an overturned aircraft, he was given a chilling warning by a concerned bystander:
I felt a hand on my shoulder. He said be careful of pressurised fuel lines. As they could explode.
It was a mangled wreck.
– AAP
Updated at 01.19 EST
Hanson claims burqa stunt relates to national security but fails to produce any evidence
Pauline Hanson claims her bill to ban the burqa was in response to concerns about national security – but when asked repeatedly in a press conference, could not point to a single example where cultural face coverings had been a factor in national security incidents.
Hanson and her One Nation colleagues held a fiery press conference in Parliament House shortly after she was ejected from the Senate for refusing to remove the burqa, in a repeat of a stunt she carried out in 2017. Here’s what she claimed:
It is a national security issue. It is about women’s rights, and a lot of women are forced to wear this garb. I don’t like putting this on.
She went on to cite alleged anecdotal examples of hearing stories of people scared to travel to the “western suburbs of Sydney”.
She denied she was contributing to social discord by repeating her burqa stunt, and said she was upset at not being given leave to introduce her bill to ban the burqa.
But asked for data about how many incidents of national security risk she was aware of relating to face coverings like the burqa, Hanson said: “Can I suggest you call Asio.”
Pressed further for any details, she could not provide any:
I can’t answer you that question.
Updated at 01.04 EST
Widespread condemnation over Hanson’s ‘disgraceful’ burqa stunt repeatJosh Butler
Senators across the political divide have strongly condemned Pauline Hanson’s latest burqa stunt. Hanson initially walked in and sat in the wrong seat, and had to be quietly guided to the correct side of the chamber by a colleague.
Greens leader Larissa Waters called the burqa stunt an “insult”. Labor Senate leader Penny Wong, who was clearly angry and upset, said senators should not be “disrespectful of the Senate” and said her conduct was “not worthy” of the parliament and politicians.
Wong pointed back to the 2017 version of Hanson’s stunt, noting the bipartisan condemnation at the time.
Liberal Senate leader Anne Ruston said “this is not the way you should be addressing this chamber”, and called for respect for others.
Lidia Thorpe, interjecting loudly numerous times, called for Hanson to be ejected from parliament. Fatima Payman said Hanson was “disrespecting a faith, disrespecting Muslim Australians… this needs to be dealt with immediately before we proceed, it’s disgraceful.”
Updated at 01.02 EST