Pauline Hanson has unleashed an extraordinary attack on her ‘gutless’ parliamentary colleagues after they blocked debate on her motion in the Senate.
The One Nation leader was furious after her ‘All Lives Matter’ notice of motion was denied in the Senate by Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Thursday.
Her latest tirade comes a day after she labelled George Floyd a ‘criminal and a dangerous thug’ as she condemned the Black Matters Lives protests held across Australia last Saturday sparked by the US man’s death.
Senator Hanson’s motion to note that all lives matter was denied support from both sides of the chamber on Thursday.
Hanson said it was the first time she says she’s seen them band together after four years in the Senate.
Senator Pauline Hanson submitted a ‘All Lives Matter’ notice of motion a day after condemning the Black Live Matter protests (pictured) attended by 60,000 Australians last Saturday
‘I cannot believe that you are not prepared to actually put this to a vote in the notices of motion,’ a bewildered Senator Hanson told the chamber.
‘So if you are not prepared to put it to a vote then the answer to that is you don’t care that all lives matter. Otherwise you would put it and vote on it.
‘The people in this chamber are too bloody gutless to stand up for the people of this nation that all lives matter.’
She ended her passionate rant with a desperate plea.
‘Until you actually realise that and stop pushing your own agendas, that we’re not doing a service to this nation,’ Senator Hanson said.
‘The Australian people look to us as leaders of this nation. Stop diving this nation.’
Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong earlier explained why she didn’t want to debate the idea, which had become a catch cry for critics of the Black Lives Matter protests in the US.
‘There are some things that we do not want to import,’ Senator Wong said.
Blocked debate on her motion promoted a fiery response from the One Nation Leader who labelled her Senate colleagues who refused to support it as gutless
Senator Hanson later went on afternoon radio to continue her attack on her Senate colleagues.
‘I just called them gutless not to stand up for this,’ she told 2GB’s Mark Levy.
‘They haven’t got the intestinal fortitude to stand up for what they truly believe in.
‘This is causing division within our nation… if people don’t stand up to this, I’m in fear of what it’s going to be like to live in this country.
‘I’m fighting for equality.’
The controversial politician addressed the Senate a day earlier to denounce the Black Lives Matter protests, and the celebration of Mr Floyd, who died in Minneapolis last month after a police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes.
Officer Derek Chauvin (pictured) was identified as the officer pinning down George Floyd in video footage
‘George Floyd had been made out to be a martyr,’ Senator Hanson said.
‘This man has been in and out of prison numerous times. He was a criminal and a dangerous thug
‘It sickened me to see people holding up signs saying ‘black lives matter’ in memory of this American criminal,’ Hanson said.
‘I’m sorry, but all lives matter… we cannot allow bleeding hearts and those on the left to destroy the fabric of our society and our freedom.
‘No one could possibly condone the way in which George Floyd died. But what upsets me is the attitude of many people – black and white.’
The One Nation Leader addressed the senate on Wednesday to call George Floyd a ‘criminal and a dangerous thug’ who has been turned into a ‘martyr’
Hanson expressed her fury that Australians didn’t show the same outrage at the death of Justine Damond – a Caucasian Australian woman who was shot dead by a black officer, also in Minneapolis, in 2017.
‘There was no protest, no one really cared because she was white,’ Hanson said.
Senator Hanson said politicians should ‘hang their heads in shame’ for not speaking up about the health risks of the protests, which defied ongoing warnings for people not to gather in large groups due to the risk of spreading coronavirus.
‘It’s a grave insult to all law-abiding Australians. These activists should never have been allowed to march and call Australians racist,’ she said.
‘Shame on the politicians who were too gutless and too scared of losing votes to stand up to the mob.
‘People are furious and I don’t blame them.’
20,000 people flooded the streets of Sydney on Saturday (above) , 30,000 in Brisbane and 10,000 in Melbourne as part of Black Lives Matter rallies, despite COVID-19 restrictions