Pauline Hanson Storms Out Of The Senate During Acknowledgement To Country
Pauline Hanson has sensationally stormed out of the Senate during an Acknowledgement to Country.
An acknowledgement to country is a practice that recognises and highlights the fact that Aboriginal people are the original custodians of Australia.
People who wish to engage in the practice will usually say: "We acknowledge and pay our respect to the traditional custodians of the lands and waters of NSW, and all Aboriginal Elders, past, present and emerging.
"We respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land and waters of New South Wales, and their continuing cultural, spiritual customs and practices."
Pauline Hanson, you are ignorant and you are racist.
— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) July 26, 2022
As this was said today (July 27) in the Senate in Canberra, it seemed to ruffle the One Nation Senator's feathers.
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News Corp reports she left in the middle of the saying and shouted: “No, I won’t...I never will.”
Hanson has been labelled 'racist' on social media for the defiant move.
Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe 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.”
...says the ‘infiltrator’ who with her racially divisive agenda doesn’t even recognise the legitimacy of our Constitution or Parliament. -PH https://t.co/Op7Q1uXGp4
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) July 27, 2022
Hanson has previously hit back against moves designed to recognise and honour First Nations people.
She hit out against the Welcome to Country practice that was performed when Anthony Albanese attended Bluesfest earlier this year.
The Welcome to Country is an Aboriginal tradition dating back thousands of years. It's performed to welcome other people from different areas as a cultural exchange.
Hanson took to Facebook to put her unwanted two cents in, saying: “It is common for politicians to be booed at events but some Australians were shocked that Anthony Albanese would get such a hostile reaction while trying to deliver a so-called ‘Welcome to Country’.
“I don’t know about you but I am very tired of being left out of the ‘welcome’ to my own country.”
Senator Hanson called the ceremony ‘left-wing virtue signalling’ and incorrectly claimed that the Welcome To Country is a modern idea.
She continued: “Some of you might not realise but this ‘Welcome to Country’ isn’t some ancient tradition. It is a modern invention.
“Just one of the many overused methods of left-wing virtue signalling that shoehorns politics and pandering into everyday life.”
According to SBS News, Yolngu man Wanubi Marika cited exchanges between his ancestors and Dutch explorers in the 1600s and Indonesia traders in the mid-1700s, as examples of when such tradition took place.
Stewart Perrie