Politics

Sarah Hanson-Young Has Accused Pauline Hanson Of Doing “ISIS’s Work For Them”

The comments were in response to Pauline Hanson's burqa stunt in Parliament.

by Osman Faruqi  21 August 2017

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Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has slammed Pauline Hanson’s burqa stunt in parliament last Thursday, accusing the One Nation senator of “doing ISIS’s work” and inciting “more violence and hatred from extremists on both sides.”

Last Thursday, during Question Time in the Senate, Hanson entered the chamber while wearing a burqa and asked the government whether it would consider banning the garment on security grounds. The stunt was clearly designed to attract uncritical media coverage, which it did. Sunrise invited Hanson on their program on Friday morning, and again today, to discus national security and her burqa policy.

The show’s hosts attempted to link One Nation’s recent rise in the polls (they went up 1 percent) to Hanson’s call to the ban the burqa. Presenter David Koch asked the show’s other guest, Hanson-Young, if she believed the Greens should be “supporting Pauline” in order to improve their standing in the polls.

“What Pauline did last week was an absolute disgrace,” Hanson-Young said. “I’m very concerned it flies in the face of official advice form our security and intelligence agencies who have said very clearly that acts and stunts like this only serve to incite more violence and hatred from both sides.”

“Pauline, I think you need to reflect… security experts have said that what you did last week will now be used as fodder for promoting extremism. You’re doing ISIS’s work for them. You’re putting the entire country at risk.”

“I totally disagree with you,” Hanson responded, before listing a number of Muslim countries she argued had banned the burqa for security reasons including Tunisia, Turkey, Congo and Malaysia. First problem: the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has banned the burqa on security grounds, is not a Muslim country. Secondly, Malaysia has not banned the burqa – however there is a ban on full-face coverings in government buildings.

After an extended fiery back and forth Hanson-Young declared “The next attack in Australia will be on your head, Pauline.”