Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has been suspended from parliament over “threatening” behaviour towards colleagues after a racism row erupted in the Senate.

Thorpe ripped up a motion by Pauline Hanson and threw the paper at the One Nation senator who was questioning the eligibility of Senator Fatima Payman to sit in the chamber.

Thorpe left the Senate floor with her middle finger raised.

Labor Senate leader Penny Wong moved the motion to oust Thorpe until the end of Thursday — the end of the parliamentary sitting year — passing 46 votes to 11.

The government, coalition, Hanson, David Pocock and Ralph Babet voted in favour of the motion.

Only the Greens stood against it and, while Thorpe’s staff attended the vote, she did not.

Senate President Sue Lines said Thorpe’s behaviour was “physically threatening”.

Hanson said everyone had the right to feel safe at work and to not be intimidated or threatened.

“I hope this does send a clear message to Senator Thorpe,” she said.

“She’s been given the opportunity to hold a very special place in this parliament, and to act on behalf of all Australians who want clear, decisive representation with equality, not about race.”

Appearing in ABC on Thursday morning, Thorpe accused her colleagues of double standards for allowing racist behaviour in the Senate.

“They need to not allow Senator Hanson and others to spew hate speech in our workplace,” she said.

“Senator Hanson, Pauline Hanson has walked in there with a burqa, she constantly is across the floor spewing racism and disgusting violence towards us and anybody else who is not white.

“That is not acceptable behaviour either and why won’t Wong and Birmingham call that out?”

Thorpe said she would “continue to disrupt” until the problem was taken seriously.

“If it was a fair and equal workplace without racist, vile then we would have a much happier Senate and we would all be able to get along okay to get the business done.

“It seems like there’s one rule for white people who get away with racism and there’s one rule for us when we call that out, we’re the ones that are the naughty little black girl again.”

On Wednesday, Labor joined Hanson to allow documents to be tabled in the Senate questioning Payman’s eligibility to sit in the chamber because of her dual citizenship status.

As Labor senators took their places to back the motion, Thorpe could be heard shouting as she tore up the documents and threw them at Hanson.

Thorpe’s staff walked out of the chamber as Hanson rose to speak.

Wong said debate in the parliament had turned to “aggression, hateful and personal attacks” that could not be tolerated in the workplace.

“There have been dozens of instances, including multiple instances of Senator Thorpe, making inappropriate, sometimes abusive comments towards other senators,” she said.

“Despite attempts to work with Senator Thorpe, she’s increasingly engaged in such behaviour in this Senate.”

Coalition Senate leader Simon Birmingham described the motion as a “line in the sand” after the Victorian senator had “crossed a line” earlier.

He said it was “beyond disappointing” the Greens had voted it down, accusing them of a “shameful double standard”.

Defending the decision taken by the Greens, Senate leader Larissa Waters said the party did not think denying her from a day of voting was an “appropriate and proportionate response”.

“A number of our senators feel unsafe due to the conduct of Senator Thorpe. And a number of senators in this place feel unsafe due to the conduct of Senator Hanson,” she said.

There is one scheduled day of sittings left on Thursday, before parliament is expected to return in February.

The One Nation leader attempted to refer former Labor senator Fatima Payman to a parliamentary committee over her dual Afghan citizenship, questioning her eligibility to sit in the upper house.

Thorpe backed Payman, yelling “convicted racist” at Hanson as she threw torn-up documents at her.

Thorpe gave the middle finger over her shoulder as she walked out of the chamber.

Under Section 44 of the constitution, dual citizens are not allowed to sit in parliament.

Payman has made previous representations to renounce her Afghan citizenship, but cannot because of the Taliban’s takeover.

Thorpe was censured by the upper house over her publicised protest against King Charles during the monarch’s visit to Parliament House in October.

Censure motions do not have any legal consequences but they are rare and give parliamentarians the chance to formally express their disapproval of colleagues.

-with AAP