Independent senator Fatima Payman and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson have had a heated row after Ms Hanson questioned the former Labor senator’s eligibility to sit in parliament
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00There were pretty dramatic scenes in the Senate today, heated words.
00:06We even saw Senator Lydia Thorpe scrunch up a piece of paper and throw it at Pauline Hanson.
00:12This is all regarding Senator Hanson's allegations or questions over Senator Fatima Paven's eligibility
00:18to be in Parliament, and she's basing that around Section 44.
00:22You may remember around six years ago, Section 44 was a huge story in Australian politics.
00:26It caused a lot of problems for many Australian politicians.
00:30It says that Australian politicians, if they are dual citizens, must have denounced their
00:35other citizenship or must have taken reasonable steps to have done so.
00:40Now Senator Paven is a dual citizen with Afghanistan and Australia, but she says she's taken reasonable
00:46steps but right now Afghanistan is run by the Taliban, so she can't exactly go back
00:51over there and change her citizenship there.
00:54So that's the background to what this was all about, but here's what played out in the Senate.
00:59I see it as a protection racket by the Greens to protect Senator Paven.
01:05That is not what this place is about.
01:06Why is someone being treated totally different than every other senator in this place?
01:11Senator Hanson has worn the burqa in this place.
01:14Maybe it's time that she pack her burqa and go to Afghanistan and talk to the Taliban
01:19about this.
01:20Because clearly when the Labor Party put me up as a candidate, they did their homework.
01:25And here it is.
01:26Here's the advice.
01:27Senator Hanson, do you want to see it for yourself?
01:30I am very honoured that I live rent-free in Senator Hanson's mind, but I think you've
01:37got better things to do than worry about section 44 here when there's nothing to see.
01:43I mean, the racism and comments and quotes that you've made in the past.
01:49Senator Hanson.
01:50I want to withdraw that racism.
01:53She has said, I believe we're in danger of being swamped by Asians in her first speech.
02:00In 1998 policy speech, she said Aboriginality would no longer exist under her party's policies.
02:09In another statement, she says, we're bringing in people from South Africa at the moment.
02:15There's a huge amount coming into Australia who have disease.
02:18They've got AIDS.
02:19If that is not racist, what is it?
02:22You're not just vindictive, mean, nasty.
02:26You bring disgrace to the human race.
02:29There's been some developments this morning.
02:30The social media ban for people under the age of 16.
02:34That bill has been introduced to the lower house and has passed 102 votes to 13.
02:39So that's not unexpected because of course it has the support of both the government
02:43and the coalition.
02:45We also have three immigration bills which will come forth.
02:49One of those is which would allow Australia to pay other countries to accept non-citizens
02:54who are being deported from detention.
02:57Those three bills are likely to get up because the coalition have said that they will support
03:01them.
03:02There's also the nature positive legislation.
03:04There's some news on that.
03:06That would be a bill which would see Australia introduce an environment protection agency.
03:11It does look very unlikely to get passed this year.
03:15Sources have told the ABC there will be no deal on that this week.
03:19So those are some of the matters today.
03:21Of course there was also plenty of movement last night with later settings in the Senate.
03:25We saw some developments there.
03:26There was some easing for student HECS debt.
03:28A bill that will see $3 billion of student debt wiped for around 3 million students.
03:35And there was also a pay increase for childcare workers to the tune of 15%.
03:39That was also passed.