Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has condemned comments made by Senator Pauline Hanson, saying she continues to be “triggered” by racist comments, which have been levelled against her countless times.
Senator Wong delivered a speech in the Senate on Tuesday in support of Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, who had moved a censure motion against Hanson after she tweeted Faruqi should “piss off back to Pakistan”.
“I condemn Senator Hanson’s comments without reservation. I think they’re appalling, and they’re comments that have been levelled at me countless times since I arrived in this country, and I remember getting them as a kid in the schoolyard and I’ve got them since.
“They’re not just the pathetic hecklings of a schoolyard bully, they are – as Senator Faruqi rightly said – something you say to delegitimise someone’s right to speak.
“I don’t know what drives it, perhaps it’s the fear of anything different. Different races, different ethnicities, different opinions.
“But can I say to Senator Faruqi, we on this side do understand your grievance at this comment and we understand why you are calling out such behaviour, and I pick up something that Senator Faruqi said in her contribution about how triggering this is.
“It’s true, it is. It’s triggering each time you hear it. I’m the Senate leader, I still get triggered, and I wonder how it is for kids in the schoolyard who get the same thing.”
Wong went on to repeat a sentiment she had said in her first speech to parliament back in 2002.
“How long do you have to be here and how much do you have to love this country before you’re accepted? How long?”
In an earlier speech to the Senate on Tuesday, Senator Faruqi explained why she was moving a censure motion against Hanson, saying the tweet had been a “deliberate and effective attempt to whip up a frenzy and mobilise a pile on.”
“Right on cue, her tweet triggered an avalanche and days of abusive calls, emails, tweets, and comments directed at me. While I bore the brunt of it, my family and staff were also subjected to unacceptable vitriol,” she said.
“Someone even called my husband’s workplace and told him to go back to where he came from because people are f—ing sick of us.
“Many migrants let me know how triggered they felt after reading Senator Hanson’s attack tweet. It never gets easier to deal with racist attacks. It hurts every time. It does shake your sense of worth and your belonging to a place which has been home to me for 30 years.”