SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s Senate is rowdy and raucous, and often compared to a schoolyard. But after the leader of the anti-immigrant One Nation party walked into the chamber on Thursday wearing a burqa, the room went silent.

Then came the stunned responses: “oh” and “what on earth.”

The party leader, Pauline Hanson, took her seat as political rivals watched astounded. Senators from her party laughed.

Removing the garment, Ms. Hanson, who is not Muslim, said that the burqa, a full-body and face covering, should be banned in Australia. She said that she wore the veil to draw attention to her party’s push to ban full-face coverings in public.

Image Ms. Hanson. Credit... Reuters

“I’m quite happy to remove this because this is not what should belong in this Parliament,” she said as the Senate met during parliamentary sitting week, in which lawmakers debate legislation and other matters.