Firebrand Senator Lidia Thorpe will be suspended from Parliament for the remainder of the sitting week after tearing up a motion by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson on the floor of the House.
Sources from both Coalition and Labor say her antics are considered serious enough to warrant action, the ABC reported.
The matter will be discussed in the Senate on Wednesday evening.
It comes after a chaotic day in the Senate where Senator Hanson tabled a document claiming that Labor defector Fatima Payman’s Afghan citizenship disqualified her from serving in Parliament.
It prompted a vicious response from Senator Payman, who accused the One Nation leader of racism and claimed she was ‘disgracing the human race’.
“Senator Hanson wore the burqa here. Maybe it’s time for her to pack her burqa and go to Afghanistan and talk to the Taliban about this,” Sen. Payman fumed.
“All Senator Hanson has done here is sow hatred and division.”
She also mentioned several of Senator Hanson’s previous comments, including her first speech in which she said Australia was “in danger of being overrun by Asians” and that “Aboriginalism would no longer exist” if her party were in power.
“If that’s not racist, what is?” Senator Payman shouted as she pounded her fist on the table.
Senator Thorpe was heard repeatedly shouting: “You are a convicted racist!”
There’s more to come.