Pauline Hanson has been banned from parliament after wearing a burqa in the Senate, with the right-wing leader facing widespread criticism over the stunt.
The One Nation leader entered the upper house on Monday afternoon wearing the religious garment shortly after failing to move a bill banning the Islamic covering in public places.
Senator Hanson was formally censured in the upper house on Tuesday which called on her to apologise.
After she doubled down on the move, she was suspended from the Senate for seven parliamentary sitting days.
Senator Hanson walked out of the chamber, saying a vote on her suspension didn't need to be held.
Holding a press conference immediately afterwards, Senator Hanson said she was "upset" she hadn't been given enough time to respond to the criticism but added the suspension did not worry her.
"I stand my ground and what I believe in, I will continue to do so," she told reporters in Canberra.
"I will be standing for the next election in Queensland, and I will let the people of Queensland judge me whether I have earned my place to be re-elected again or not. I will not let these people here judge me."
She won't be able to return to the Senate until 2026, with parliament to wrap up for the year on Thursday.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the upper house a child of someone she was close to had asked her mother 'if all Christians hated Muslims' following the incident.
In response, United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet called out "I do".
Senator Wong said the stunt had mocked and vilified an entire faith, while causing "cruel consequences" for the most vulnerable.
"Senator Hanson's hateful and shallow pageantry tears at our social fabric, and I believe it makes Australia weaker," she said.
Fellow cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek pointed to the issue of growing right-wing extremism in Australia.
"I don't remember the last time someone in a burqa robbed a bank, but I do recall a couple of weeks ago that there was a queue of neo-Nazis standing outside NSW Parliament," she told ABC radio.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said the nation needed honest and respectful debate that didn't appropriate religious symbols for political purposes.
It's the second time Senator Hanson has worn the burqa inside the parliament.
After first attempting the stunt in the upper house in 2017, Senator Hanson was slammed by then attorney-general George Brandis, who labelled it an "appalling thing to do".
Mr Brandis labelled the latest incident "despicable".
"Every once in a while, she dreams up a new stunt to try and make herself the centre of political attention and discussion," he told ABC radio.
"It reminds people both that the One Nation party has absolutely nothing to offer the Australian people, but also that the kind of politics they practise are ugly and divisive politics."
Independent senator Fatima Payman, who quit Labor over its stance on Palestine, said the behaviour left others feeling unsafe.
"This is ... an old trick that Pauline Hanson's pulled out of the bag. Very disrespectful, very un-Australian," she told ABC News.
Senator Payman, a Muslim, said the stunt could lead to schoolgirls and women wearing hijabs being abused or assaulted.
Redbridge Group director and former Victorian Labor strategist Kos Samaras said the "permanent problem for right-wing populist outfits is that protest is easy".
Censure motions are rare and give parliamentarians the chance to formally express their disapproval of colleagues, but do not have any legal consequences.
