One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has started a petition asking the Senate to refer controversial Afghanistan-born Muslim senator Fatima Payman to the High Court due to her dual citizenship.
Ms Hanson on Wednesday tabled documents in an attempt to have former Labor senator Payman investigated under Section 44 of the Constitution which forbids politicians from having more than one citizenship, but was knocked back by Senate president Sue Lines.
Ms Payman, who wears an Aboriginal and Palestinian flag lapel pin and claims Afghanistan’s Taliban government is preventing her from renouncing her Afghan citizenship, responded by accusing Ms Hanson of racism and being a “disgrace to the human race”. She later withdrew the comments.
Only Ms Hanson, Queensland One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts and the United Australia Party’s Ralph Babet voted in favour of her motion to refer Payman’s citizenship for investigation. Mr Roberts himself stepped down from parliament due to his British citizenship during the Section 44 eligibility crisis of 2017/18.
PETITION
The Albanese Labor Government has refused to investigate Senator Payman’s eligibility, despite her failure to provide any public evidence that she has taken the steps required by the High Court to renounce her dual citizenship.
Demand that Albanese stop trampling on… pic.twitter.com/JP8faO65zg
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) November 28, 2024
On Thursday Ms Hanson started a petition titled Get Payman Out, which had more than 5,500 signatures by Thursday afternoon, stating that Payman “has not provided sufficient and verifiable evidence of attempting to renounce her Afghan citizenship”.
“Given the gravity of these allegations, we call upon the Senate to act in the interest of transparency and accountability by referring Senator Fatima Payman to the High Court, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, to determine her eligibility under Section 44 of the Constitution,” the petition reads.
“This action is not one of political partisanship but a necessary step to ensure the laws governing our democracy are upheld. It is vital for the Senate to confirm that all its members meet the constitutional requirements to serve.
“We urge the Senate to act swiftly in addressing this matter to protect the integrity of our democratic processes.”
The release of the petition came on the same day Ms Hanson sent a defamation warning to former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe and the Nine Network after the far-left aboriginal activist referred to her as a “convicted racist” in a televised interview on Thursday morning.
Ms Thorpe tore up Ms Hanson’s motion to investigate Ms Payman’s citizenship in the senate on Wednesday and gave the middle finger, leading to her suspension for the rest of the sitting week, and then told the Today show that Ms Hanson “gets away with so much, she is a convicted racist”
Ms Hanson then sent legal letters titled “Defamation of Senator Pauline Hanson” saying that Ms Hanson has never been found guilty of the criminal offence of racism and that it was “highly irresponsible” of Ms Thorpe make that claim and for Nine to broadcast it.
Nine said in a statement: “TODAY wishes to clarify that Senator Hanson has not been criminally convicted of racism, and any suggestion to the contrary is unequivocally withdrawn.”
The fight for free speech continues! My legal team has now officially filed the appeal against the Section 18C decision. This is a crucial step in challenging this oppressive law that threatens the rights of all Australians to speak freely.
I want to thank you all so much for… pic.twitter.com/zjwSD0H9IM
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) November 27, 2024
On Wednesday Ms Hanson announced she had officially filed an appeal against a court ruling by by a woke judge that she racially vilified far-left Pakistani Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi by telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan” in a tweet.
“This is a crucial step in challenging this oppressive law that threatens the rights of all Australians to speak freely,” Ms Hanson said.
Header image: Left, Pauline Hanson. Right, Fatima Payman with Ralph Babet in the background.
