Greens senator censured over Philippines protest

A Greens senator has been censured by the Senate for her protest during an address to parliament by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr.

During a speech to both houses of parliament by President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr on Thursday, Senator Janet Rice held up a sign saying "stop the human rights abuses".

She then left the House of Representatives on the orders of the Speaker while the speech continued.

Senator Rice was then censured by the Senate for the act, with the government and coalition voting in favour of the motion.

Senate Rice said she carried out the action to highlight human rights issues in the Philippines, saying she was "appalled" the president was allowed to make an address.

"There are at least 800 political prisoners in the Philippines at the moment, including the former head of the Human Rights Commission ... I felt it was my obligation, my responsibility to be speaking up," she told the Senate.

"I am proud of what I did today, I am proud of it and I am proud of the attention that has drawn to the appalling situation in the Philippines."

Censure motions are rare and while they are a formal motion expressing disapproval in a senator, the vote will not attract further punishment.

Senator Rice said Mr Marcos should not have been invited to speak before federal parliament.

He is in Australia as part of a two-day visit to Canberra ahead of the ASEAN Australia summit in Melbourne in March.

But the Greens senator said the issue of extrajudicial killings in the Asian nation needed to be raised

"The action I took in the house today was deliberate, and it was powerful, and I did it on behalf of every Filippino person whose human rights have been abused by the government of President Marcos," she said.

"We cannot let these human rights abuses go unchecked."

Liberal senator Simon Birmingham said the protest was irresponsible.

"If the Greens think their actions will change the domestic policies of another nation, well they're even more delusional than we though they were," he said.

"That is the most important aspect of concern here: the disregard the Greens show for Australia's relations and interests with another nation, in this case, for the importance of Australia-Philippines relations."