Lidia Thorpe has been suspended from the Senate under an archaic and little-used rule of the chamber for making “inappropriate and sometimes abusive comments”, after she appeared to throw paper at Pauline Hanson during a tense parliamentary debate on Wednesday.
Government Senate leader Penny Wong moved for Thorpe to be suspended from the Senate from Wednesday night until the end of Thursday – the last scheduled sitting day of the year. The vote passed 46-11, with only the Greens opposing the motion, which was supported by Labor, the Coalition, One Nation, Ralph Babet, Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock.
Wong said there had been “multiple instances” where Thorpe had made “inappropriate, sometimes abusive comments” towards other senators and then disrupted proceedings by refusing to withdraw her comments. The suspension came just hours after Thorpe angrily interjected during a debate sparked by Hanson unsuccessfully attempting to have former Labor senator Fatima Payman investigated for an alleged section 44 citizenship issue
The Senate president, Sue Lines, said Thorpe’s behaviour was “not acceptable” and that such behaviour “will not be tolerated”.
“Despite attempts to work with Senator Thorpe, she’s increasingly engaged in such behaviour in the Senate,” Wong said.
“This fortnight alone, the senator has been censured by the Senate, sworn in the chamber, repeatedly made offensive gestures when leaving the chamber and made comments, resulting in First Nation senators from across this chamber feeling functionally unsafe, and all of that was prior to today’s incident.
“This behaviour would not be tolerated in any workplace, and we cannot tolerate it in our workplace.”
Coalition Senate leader Simon Birmingham called the motion to suspend Thorpe a “line in the sand” moment, claiming the independent senator had “crossed a line” in her actions on Wednesday.
Birmingham accused the Greens of a “shameful double standard” in opposing the suspension motion for Thorpe, claiming the minor party members would not tolerate similar behaviour from other senators.
The Greens senator Larissa Waters said the minor party did not think the behaviour was appropriate but believed Thorpe’s suspension was not “an appropriate and proportionate response to that action”.
“Let us all reflect on how we behave, but let those of us who live with white privilege remember that institutionalised racism doesn’t affect us as it does people of colour,” Waters said.
“I’m sure anyone who was in the chamber would realise that the behaviours that were undertaken this morning came following an attempt by another senator to exclude a different senator of colour, and it was in the context of the debate that had racially charged overtones.”
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Hanson earlier on Wednesday attempted to have the now independent senator Payman, who was born in Afghanistan, investigated for an alleged section 44 citizenship issue. Hanson alleged Payman had not provided enough documents to prove she had revoked that citizenship, and on Wednesday morning attempted to table her own documents relating to her attempt to refer the issue for investigation.
In response, Thorpe appeared to rip up a paper copy of Hanson’s motion and threw it in Hanson’s direction. Some pieces of the paper appeared to hit Hanson.
Shortly after, Thorpe walked out of the chamber, holding up her middle finger.
Hanson said she was “pleased” to see Thorpe suspended from the Senate, claiming she had experienced a number of “barbs” and “jabs” while sitting near her in the upper house.
“Each and every one of you know that since Senator Thorpe has been in this place, it has been the downfall of this chamber because of her aggression towards calling each and every one of us, who is white, that we are colonialists, that we have stolen the land,” Hanson said.
“That’s not what this place is about, and that’s why I’m pleased to see … something had to be done to rein it in.”
Guardian Australia has contacted Thorpe for a response.
