Pauline Hanson (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

A twice-divorced Australian Senator has claimed that equal marriage for gay people will strip her of her rights.

Right-wing Senator Pauline Hanson made the comments in an interview with LGBT radio station Joy FM, while explaining why she has reservations about same-sex marriage.

Ms Hanson has a child by her former husband Walter Zagorski, but they divorced after six years. She later married Mark Hanson, whom she also divorced after seven years.

Speaking on the radio station, she explained: “What you’ve got to understand is I come from a time when there was no discussion about gay marriage or gays and lesbians living together. That’s my background, that’s what I’ve grown up with.

“Society has changed over time, and I agree that everyone has the right to peace and harmony.

“I don’t have the right to tell anyone how to live their life… but the gays and lesbians are now wanting to change my way of thinking, who I am, because for me the concept of marriage is between a man and a woman. Now you’re wanting to change it.

“Everyone has the right to happiness, what you do behind closed doors is everyone’s individual business… but what I’m saying is I have a way of thinking, what I see a marriage is.

“I accept that you want to be together and how you feel about eachother, I have no problems with that, but you’ve got to convince me how changing my way of thinking, how I was brought up, to embrace that. Also the impact it may have on our society.”

She added: “This whole thing about the gay marriage, I think it’s been blown out of proportion. It’s not all that… hey listen guys, I’ve been married twice, it’s not all that.

“Why do you need the public to embrace this? What are you trying to prove? Why do you want to take the word marriage?

She later added: “You actually want to take the word marriage, which is defined between a man and a woman, and you actually want that. You’re fighting for that.

“You want to take something away from the majority of society that we’ve grown up with… why do you want to take the word marriage?”