December 26, 2024

Pauline Hanson in fiery exchange with Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi over Queen comment

Pauline #Pauline

This story contains strong language. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has responded to a tweet by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, telling the Greens deputy leader to “p*** off back to Pakistan” for comments regarding the late monarch. On Friday, the Greens senator said she offered her condolences to the late Queen, but couldn’t “mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples”. “We are reminded of the urgency of Treaty with First Nations, justice & reparations for British colonies & becoming a republic,” senator Faruqi wrote on Twitter. That led to a reply from senator Hanson, who told Pakistan-born senator Faruqi to leave Australia.

“When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country. You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and a job in a parliament. It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags,” she wrote on Twitter.

The exchange drew mixed reactions from social media users, with some backing senator Hanson while others supported senator Faruqi.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has also faced both criticism – and support – over a condolence tweet to the Queen, which also called for a referendum.

Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said it was “totally-tone-deaf”, while former immigration minister, Liberal MP Alex Hawke, said it was “Truly graceless and bereft of common decency to do this today”. Senator Hanson has long faced criticism during her terms as a politician.

In July, she left the Senate chamber during the opening Acknowledgement of Country after dismissing it as “divisive”.

She also faced criticism for wearing a burqa into the Senate chamber in 2017. At the time, the then-attorney-general George Brandis condemned the move as a “stunt”. “I would caution you and counsel you, senator Hanson, with respect, to be very very careful of the offence you may do to the religious sensibilities of other Australians,” he told Ms Hanson.

“We have about half a million Australians in this country of the Islamic faith, and the vast majority of them are law abiding, good Australians, and senator Hanson, it is absolutely consistent with being a good law abiding Australian and a strict, adherent, Muslim.”

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