{"id":514366,"date":"2026-03-02T18:35:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T18:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/514366\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T18:35:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T18:35:20","slug":"penny-wong-moves-censure-motion-against-pauline-hanson-for-remarks-about-muslims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/514366\/","title":{"rendered":"Penny Wong moves censure motion against Pauline Hanson for remarks about Muslims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated March 2, 2026 \u2014 6:40pm,first published 5:55pm<\/p>\n

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The Coalition has opposed a parliamentary censure of Pauline Hanson for suggesting there were no good Muslims as the One Nation leader stormed out of the Senate and labelled the proceedings a joke.<\/p>\n

Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi and independent Lidia Thorpe accused Labor of weaponising Hanson\u2019s remarks to wedge the opposition, but ultimately supported the motion brought by government leader in the Senate Penny Wong on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"HansonHanson slapped herself on the wrist and stormed out of the chamber before the Senate censured her.<\/p>\n

Liberal senators Paul Scarr \u2013 recently dumped from the opposition front bench by Angus Taylor \u2013 and Andrew McLachlan crossed the floor to vote with the government while the rest of their party opposed the move.<\/p>\n

It is Hanson\u2019s second formal censure and does not incur any penalties. Hanson will not be banned from the Senate as she was after being censured and suspended after donning a burqa in the Senate in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The return of parliament this week gave the government its first opportunity to rebuke Hanson for her comments to Sky News last month, when she said: \u201cHow can you tell me there are good Muslims?\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Matt<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTheir religion concerns me because what it says in the Koran \u2026 they hate Westerners,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Opposition Senate leader Michaelia Cash said Hanson\u2019s comments were not appropriate and the Coalition rejected them, but that the censure motion should be used sparingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Australian, regardless of their race, of their religion, or of their background, belongs in this country, and it is not something that any senator in this chamber should ever put into question,\u201d Cash said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever … a formal censure is one of the most serious reviews available to this chamber, and it should be treated as such,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cash invoked a previous argument from Labor senator Anthony Chisholm that the move should not become a default response.<\/p>\n

\"CashCash argued in the Senate on Monday that a censure motion should be rare.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cCensures are usually reserved for conduct relating to parliamentary and ministerial responsibility,\u201d Cash said.<\/p>\n

She also pointed to comments from former Senate leader George Brandis, who said a censure should be \u201crare and sober\u201d and not used routinely to score political points.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Coalition moved to censure Thorpe for her comments at a rally in Melbourne where she suggested she would \u201cburn down Parliament House to make a point\u201d \u2013 remarks which were subsequently investigated and dismissed by the Australian Federal Police, but the motion did not get up.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

During the one sitting on November 18, 2024, there was bipartisan support for the censure of two senators: Thorpe for disrupting King Charles III at a ceremony in the parliament\u2019s great hall, and United Australia Party MP Ralph Babet for tweeting racist and homophobic slurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since taking office in 2022, Labor has also censured former prime minister Scott Morrison for secretly appointing himself to multiple ministries. The former Coalition government last censured an MP \u2013 ex-cabinet minister Bruce Bilson \u2013 in 2018.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Hanson labelled Wong\u2019s motion a stunt, accused the media of misreporting her comments, and called the government \u201cgutless\u201d for failing to tackle religious extremism.<\/p>\n

Hanson slapped herself on the wrist, turning to Thorpe and saying: \u201cAre you happy? This is a joke,\u201d before storming out of the chamber before the vote with One Nation senators in tow.<\/p>\n

Hanson\u2019s comments were condemned by many across the political spectrum, from the prime minister, who linked Hanson\u2019s commentary to increasing threats of violence, to Nationals senator Matt Canavan, who said she wasn\u2019t fit to lead a party.<\/p>\n

\"SenatorSenator Lidia Thorpe accused Labor of political point-scoringAlex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

Earlier on Monday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the Australian Muslim community was experiencing increased levels of Islamophobia after a 20-year-old WA man was charged with allegedly planning a terrorist attack targeting mosques<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery elected official who claims to care about national security has a responsibility to turn the temperature down,\u201d Burke told the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery act of bigotry flies in the face of who we are as Australian \u2026 every Australian Muslim, just like every other Australian has a right to be safe and to feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"BrittanyBrittany Busch<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.\"NickNick Newling<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated March 2, 2026 \u2014 6:40pm,first published 5:55pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-514366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}