One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has slammed independent Senator Fatima Payman as “ignorant” following her comments defending Iran as an “incredible” place for women.
On Saturday the ex-Labor senator attended an event held by the Benevolent Iranian Women Association to mark International Women’s Day, where she defended the Islamist regime’s treatment of women in the country.
Speaking to Iranian broadcaster PressTV, Senator Payman dismissed criticism of the regime’s treatment as “propaganda” as she insisted women in Iran have a place in democracy.
She praised Iran as an “incredible place” for “allowing for women to participate in the workforce to ensure that they have a voice, that their voices are heard, that their (voices) involved in a democratic process”.
Speaking to Sky News host Chris Kenny, Senator Hanson slammed Senator Payman’s comments as “very ignorant” as she argued the Iranian Islamist regime only “suppresses women”.
“My understanding of Iran is that it came under this totalitarian Islamic regime in about 1979. Before then, it was basically more freedom, democracy, but since being taken over by this regime, it actually suppresses women,” the One Nation Leader said.
“My understanding of it is not what Fatima Payman is saying.”
Senator Hanson cited an incident in 2022 where Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died from reportedly being beaten in custody after she allegedly refused to comply with hijab regulations.
“You don’t see tourists going there lining up to go to Iran. I can’t imagine Western women wanting to go there or lie beside a pool with a bikini on. It just wouldn’t happen,” Senator Hanson said.
“Realities that we’re not privy to living here and listening to the propaganda that we receive from very single-sided organisations with specific agenda,” she said.
The One Nation Senator noted the glaring inconsistency between Senator Payman’s defiant stance against domestic violence and her comments on Iran.
“Fatima Payman talks on the floor of parliament about domestic violence and how women are treated and all the rest of it, and yet she makes this statement about women in Iran,” she said.
“Women in Iran are controlled by the men. They cannot be accompanied – unless there’s a change – but my understanding was women cannot walk around by themselves without being covered up.
“They have to be accompanied by a male – usually if it’s a child, the child has to be of teenage years – and they lose all control over the children once the children are five or six.”
“It’s all given control to the men and they suppress the women, control the women. It is not democratic for women at all. I don’t know where she’s getting this from.”
A Human Rights Watch report from 2024 stated Iranian authorities have “intensified efforts to enforce compulsory hijab laws”.
“They prosecuted women and girls, including celebrities, for not wearing the hijab in public; issued traffic citations to passengers without hijab; and closed businesses that did not comply with hijab laws,” the report read.
It added cases of femicide are “increasingly” being reported, but the country has no domestic violence law to prevent abuse and protect survivors.
“Reports show that between March 20 and June 20, at least 35 women and girls have been killed by their male family members in different cities in Iran, five of whom were in Tehran,” the report said.
