Pauline Hanson censured over Muslim comments but only two Coalition senators back motion

Pauline Hanson has been censured again by the federal Senate, with two Liberal senators crossing the floor to support a motion calling out the One Nation leader’s “inflammatory and divisive” recent comments about Australian Muslims.

Hanson branded the motion – her second censure within four months, following her stunt in wearing a hijab in the parliament last year – as a “joke”, theatrically slapping herself on the wrist before storming out of the chamber before the final vote. The Greens and much of the crossbench backed Labor’s censure motion, while the Coalition resolved to oppose it, saying censures should be reserved for the most serious conduct.

But Liberal moderate senators Paul Scarr and Andrew McLachlan crossed the floor, splitting with their colleagues and helping the motion pass 36-17. No One Nation senator participated in the final vote.

Labor moved to censure Hanson over her comments to Sky News in February, where the One Nation leader said: “You say, ‘Well, there’s good Muslims out there.’ How can you tell me there are good Muslims?”

Hanson refused to apologise for the comments and stood by them in subsequent interviews. But she later issued a partial apology, saying she was sorry if she “offended anyone out there that doesn’t believe in sharia law, or multiple marriages, or wants to bring Isis brides in, or people from Gaza that believe in a caliphate”.

But she then went on to claim: “In general, that is what they want, a world caliphate. And I am not going to apologise.”

The government motion, as read by Senate leader Penny Wong, stated Australia has been “built by the hard work, sacrifice and aspiration of people of every race and faith”, “assures all Australians they are valued, welcome members of our society” and “rejects any attempt to vilify people on the basis of their religion”.

The motion called on the Senate to reiterate that “if parliament is to be a safe place for all who work and visit here, there can be no tolerance for hate speech in the course of parliamentarians’ public debate”, and called on all senators to “refrain from inflammatory and divisive comments, both inside and outside the chamber”.

It asked the Senate to censure Hanson over “her inflammatory and divisive comments seeking to vilify Muslim Australians”.

The Greens backed the motion, but senator Mehreen Faruqi called it “performative” and claimed it did not address deeper issues of racism. Coalition senator Michaelia Cash said the opposition would support parts of Labor’s censure motion calling for respectful debate and praising the contribution of multicultural Australians, but wouldn’t support the paragraph actually censuring Hanson.

Cash said Hanson’s comments were wrong, but that a formal censure motion should “not used as a routine tactic to score political points.”

“I don’t think that Senator Hanson’s comments were appropriate. Why? Because I personally have Muslim friends. My mum’s best friend is a Muslim. So I have to say, I think that there are good Muslims in Australia,” Cash said.

However, Liberal senators Scarr – who was dumped as immigration spokesperson after the Angus Taylor-led leadership spill – and McLachlan crossed the floor to back Labor’s motion.

Before the final vote, Hanson only briefly addressed the censure motion, telling the chamber: “this is a stunt.”

“The people out there are sick of this ... you can’t stand that One Nation is on 27%, 28% [in opinion polls].”

The Senate chamber devolved into another shouting match between Hanson and Lidia Thorpe, before Hanson theatrically gave herself a slap on the wrist and said “you’re all a joke”, departing the chamber.

The motion was moved in two parts, allowing the Coalition to back the first part of the motion with symbolic calls for respectful debate. The first part of the motion was carried on the voices; the second part, actually censuring Hanson, was carried 36-17.

Labor, the Greens, Thorpe, David Pocock and Tammy Tyrrell backed the censure, along with McLachlan and Scarr; the Coalition and Ralph Babet opposed.

Hanson’s divisive comments on Sky were harshly criticised across the political spectrum, including by Labor, the Greens, Nationals senator Matt Canavan and Australia’s race discrimination commissioner. Federal police said they had received reports of a “crime” in relation to her comments but legal academics said it was unclear what law could have been breached.

One Nation is surging in opinion polls, with 22% of respondents to the Guardian Essential poll saying they would vote for Hanson’s party, and nearly 60% saying they were at least open to voting for One Nation at the next federal election.

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Hanson’s office was contacted for comment.

Thorpe backed the motion, but also said it did not go far enough in dealing with racism. She claimed the government’s tactic was a “a political stunt designed to wedge the Coalition and disrupt their preference negotiations with One Nation in the Farrer byelection.”

Hanson has said she is open to negotiations with the Coalition about election preference deals and closer cooperation in parliament. The Liberal shadow minister, Andrew Hastie, is among Coalition members who are also open to such an arrangement, telling Sky News on Sunday: “One Nation supporters at the moment need to be taken more seriously.”

Asked about a potential preference deal, Hastie said: “I’m fine with that.

“These are normal Australians, and I’m happy to work with anyone on the centre right who wants to deliver better outcomes for the Australian people.”