In the first image, you see an Australian MP wearing a burqa in Parliament to debate banning the burqa for women.
In the second image, it’s me and my friend, two women who have actually lived under the reality of forced burqas and hijabs imposed by the Taliban and the Islamic… https://t.co/HwD12SiPzj pic.twitter.com/Bi1KTO5R2T— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) November 25, 2025
Australian Senator Pauline Hanson attempted to implement a burqa and full-face covering ban. Rejected, Hanson showed up to Parliament donning a burqa to showcase the “radical” roots of the garment. Her peers labeled her a racist and reprimanded her with a one-week ban from the government.
“If Parliament won’t prohibit it, I will showcase this oppressive, radical, non-religious head garment that threatens our national security and the mistreatment of women right here on the floor of our parliament,” Hanson declared.
Twenty-four nations, including Muslim nations, have banned the burqa. One of the first measures Islamic extremists implement is mandated coverings for women (see: Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc.). Women are treated as sub-humans who may not participate in society or even show their faces. “Let me make it quite clear and imam clerics have actually said the burka is not a religious requirement. They wear it because they choose to or they are forced,” the Australian senator added.
Australia refuses to acknowledge “women” as a protected class. I suppose anyone could wear a burqa, and what a protest that would be—hundreds of conservatives covered up and demanding that their Western country protect Western rights. One could not walk into a bank or an airport with a helmet or ski mask. Public safety is at-risk.
Islam is not a race and protecting Western values is not racist. Islam is not compatible with Western ideology, as history has repeatedly shown. The same liberals demanding equal rights refuse to recognize the oppressive roots of hiding women from society.
Women who have lived under Islamic extremism are backing Hanson. The Australian government refuses to allow these women to speak — how ironic.
As activist Masih Alinejad wrote in the X post above:
“In the first image, you see an Australian MP wearing a burqa in Parliament to debate banning the burqa for women. In the second image, it’s me and my friend, two women who have actually lived under the reality of forced burqas and hijabs imposed by the Taliban and the Islamic Republic appearing in an American TV. Now I learned that the debate on Banning the burqa wasn’t even allowed onto the floor of the Australian Senate. I understand these issues can feel politically risky. But let’s be honest: for us women of Iran and Afghanistan who lived under forced hijab and burqa, this is not an abstract political debate, it is the reality we survived. We were suffocated by it.
I was beaten by Iran’s morality police for showing my hair. Afghan and Iranian girls have been lashed, even killed, just for talking about their rights. And even thousands of miles away, we face assassination plots for the “crime” of asking for a debate on forced hijab. This isn’t culture. It’s oppression, exported globally.
What some call “culture,” we recognize as gender apartheid enforced by the Taliban and the Islamic Republic. This is why I want to extend an invitation to you , and members of the Australian Parliament: Open your Parliament to those of us who lived under forced hijab and burqa. Let Afghan and Iranian women share the truth directly with you, to offer a clearer and more human understanding of what millions of women face today. Australia has a proud democratic tradition of hearing voices, not silencing discussion. Including us would honour that tradition. We don’t ask to be spoken about. We ask to be heard.”