Pauline Hanson storms out of the Senate rather than acknowledge traditional owners screaming ‘no, I won’t and never will’ – as Aboriginal senator slams her as ‘racist’
- Senator Hanson angrily refused to sit through the Senate’s welcome to country
- Loudly interjected and stormed out in a huff, shocking her Senate colleagues
- She was upset at proposal to raise the Aboriginal flag in the Senate chamber
- Senator Lydia Thorpe called her ‘ignorant and racist’ moments later
Pauline Hanson has been called a racist after she angrily left the Senate during the opening acknowledgement to country and dismissed its validity.
Senate President Sue Lines acknowledged the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people as traditional custodians of the Canberra area and paid respect to elders past and present at the opening of Wednesday’s sitting.
Senator Hanson interjected, yelling ‘no, I won’t and never will’, before storming out of the chamber in a huff.
Pauline Hanson has angrily left the Senate chamber during the opening acknowledgement to country after dismissing its validity
The One Nation senator told AAP she could not accept the welcome to country or a proposal to be moved later in the day that would raise the indigenous flag in the Senate chamber.
‘I’ve been feeling this way for a long time,’ she said.
‘I have called from the first day for equality for all Australians. I see this as divisive.’
She said if anyone needed acknowledgement it was ‘our people that have fought for this country. People who have sacrificed their lives’.
Senator Hanson added the indigenous flag had ‘never been voted on’ and criticised the acknowledgement to country.
‘I will never pay respect to [the flag]. I find this flag divisive,’ she said.
‘We are now hearing it on flights and aeroplanes. I’m sorry – this is my country as well.
Senator Hanson interjected, yelling ‘no, I won’t and never will’, before exiting the chamber
Indigenous Greens’ senator Lidia Thorpe called Senator Hanson racist and her action ‘disrespectful’
‘This is heading towards division in our nation. A them and us. And we’ll never close the gap if we continue down this path. All Australians should be treated equally and the same.’
Indigenous Greens’ senator Lidia Thorpe called Senator Hanson racist and her actions ‘disrespectful’ to the Parliament and indigenous Australians.
‘Pauline Hanson, you are ignorant and you are racist,’ she wrote on Twitter.
‘Day two of the 47th Parliament and racism has reared its ugly head.
‘Pauline Hanson disrespectfully stormed out of the acknowledgement of country in the Senate, refusing to acknowledge “those people”.
‘You want to make parliament safe? Get rid of racism.’
Senator Hanson strides out the doors of the Senate after angrily refusing to sit through the welcome to country
Senator Hanson quickly fired back on her own Twitter, calling out Senator Thorpe’s own controversial views.
‘Says the “infiltrator” who with her racially divisive agenda doesn’t even recognise the legitimacy of our Constitution or Parliament,’ she wrote.
Senator Thorpe on Tuesday mocked The Queen, who is referenced in the swearing in ceremony all MPs underwent on Tuesday.
‘Not every politician swore allegiance to the colonising Queen of England today lol,’ she wrote.
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