Extract from The Guardian
PM
says he has asked Speaker to ‘rethink’ ban on facial coverings, such as
the niqab, in parliament’s public galleries, but Speaker’s office
denies such a request has been made
The prime minister and the Speaker’s office appear to be at odds
over the burqa ban, after Tony Abbott said he had asked the Speaker to
“rethink the decision” while the Speaker’s office suggested that they
had received no request to overturn the ban on facial coverings.
“No request has been received by the PM or his office,” a spokesman for the Speaker said at midday.
But in a press conference to announce cabinet approval for Iraqi military action, the prime minister said he had asked the Speaker to “rethink the decision”.
“I asked the Speaker to rethink the decision,” Abbott said. “My understanding was it was an interim decision, that it would be looked at again the light of security advice that will come in coming days and I am sure the matter will be fully resolved before the parliament comes back in a fortnight.”
Parliament’s presiding officers – Speaker Bronwyn Bishop of the House of Representatives and president of the Senate, Stephen Parry – made an interim ruling on Thursday that people wearing facial coverings, such as the niqab, could watch proceedings only from glass-enclosed public galleries.
It drew widespread condemnation from human rights commissioners, politicians across the divide and the Muslim community.
Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has condemned the interim ban, warning that “demonising and alienating” the Muslim community was “doing the terrorist’s work”.
Turnbull said in his 10 years in parliament, he had seen one woman wearing a full facial covering in the public gallery.
“We don’t want to have debates like this being turned into some sort of coded attack on the Muslim community,” Turnbull told the Today Show.
“They want us to attack Muslims, they want us to alienate and frighten and demonise the Muslim community so that they don’t feel they are part of Australia, so that they feel that their only home is with an extremist group.
“There is no point us doing the terrorists work, we have to pull together.”
The presiding officers made the interim ruling while they were waiting on security advice from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Intelligence and Security Organisation (Asio) “in light of the increased threat environment”.
The decision came three days after the prime minister said though he supported the right of all Australians to wear what they chose, he found the burqa “confronting” and wished people would not wear it.
(Although the term burqa has been widely used by politicians and the media, in Australia any ban would more likely apply to the niqab.)
Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, said she did not think polls, which show a high level of community support for a ban on Muslim facial coverings, reflect general community sentiment.
“I think most Australians think wear what you want, we are a free country,” Plibersek said. “I mean, I said yesterday I don’t want to see the prime minister in his speedos, but it is a free country”.
The Greens leader, Christine Milne, said the prime minister had to step up and show leadership regarding the “people’s parliament” in an environment where “the nation was tearing itself apart”.
“It is clear that the prime minister, by saying he was confronted by the burka … he was giving a clear signal and the presiding officers brought about this ban,” Milne said.
She urged the presiding officers to immediately review and abandon decision to ban facial coverings.
Human rights freedom commissioner Tim Wilson said there was no grounds for segregating people “on the basis of what they wear in a public building”.
Writing in The Australian, Wilson described the presiding officers’ ruling included fair and reasonable security measures requiring visitors to show identification to get escorted passes to go into secure areas of Parliament House.
“But there is a bizarre and ill-considered additional requirement that ‘persons with facial coverings entering the galleries of the House of Representatives and Senate will be seated in the enclosed galleries’. There is no justification for such a measure”.
“No request has been received by the PM or his office,” a spokesman for the Speaker said at midday.
But in a press conference to announce cabinet approval for Iraqi military action, the prime minister said he had asked the Speaker to “rethink the decision”.
“I asked the Speaker to rethink the decision,” Abbott said. “My understanding was it was an interim decision, that it would be looked at again the light of security advice that will come in coming days and I am sure the matter will be fully resolved before the parliament comes back in a fortnight.”
Parliament’s presiding officers – Speaker Bronwyn Bishop of the House of Representatives and president of the Senate, Stephen Parry – made an interim ruling on Thursday that people wearing facial coverings, such as the niqab, could watch proceedings only from glass-enclosed public galleries.
It drew widespread condemnation from human rights commissioners, politicians across the divide and the Muslim community.
Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has condemned the interim ban, warning that “demonising and alienating” the Muslim community was “doing the terrorist’s work”.
Turnbull said in his 10 years in parliament, he had seen one woman wearing a full facial covering in the public gallery.
“We don’t want to have debates like this being turned into some sort of coded attack on the Muslim community,” Turnbull told the Today Show.
“They want us to attack Muslims, they want us to alienate and frighten and demonise the Muslim community so that they don’t feel they are part of Australia, so that they feel that their only home is with an extremist group.
“There is no point us doing the terrorists work, we have to pull together.”
The presiding officers made the interim ruling while they were waiting on security advice from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Intelligence and Security Organisation (Asio) “in light of the increased threat environment”.
The decision came three days after the prime minister said though he supported the right of all Australians to wear what they chose, he found the burqa “confronting” and wished people would not wear it.
(Although the term burqa has been widely used by politicians and the media, in Australia any ban would more likely apply to the niqab.)
Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, said she did not think polls, which show a high level of community support for a ban on Muslim facial coverings, reflect general community sentiment.
“I think most Australians think wear what you want, we are a free country,” Plibersek said. “I mean, I said yesterday I don’t want to see the prime minister in his speedos, but it is a free country”.
The Greens leader, Christine Milne, said the prime minister had to step up and show leadership regarding the “people’s parliament” in an environment where “the nation was tearing itself apart”.
“It is clear that the prime minister, by saying he was confronted by the burka … he was giving a clear signal and the presiding officers brought about this ban,” Milne said.
She urged the presiding officers to immediately review and abandon decision to ban facial coverings.
Human rights freedom commissioner Tim Wilson said there was no grounds for segregating people “on the basis of what they wear in a public building”.
Writing in The Australian, Wilson described the presiding officers’ ruling included fair and reasonable security measures requiring visitors to show identification to get escorted passes to go into secure areas of Parliament House.
“But there is a bizarre and ill-considered additional requirement that ‘persons with facial coverings entering the galleries of the House of Representatives and Senate will be seated in the enclosed galleries’. There is no justification for such a measure”.
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