Tony Abbott lifts ‘accidental’ ban on burkas in Australian parliament

A ban on face-covering garments such as burkas and niqabs introduced in the Australian parliament was lifted after just two weeks today following the intervention of Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

It emerged today that the controversial burka ban, which had been condemned as unnecessary and discriminatory, had been introduced on the basis of a rumour that passed from a television crew to a policeman to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bronwyn Bishop, who then introduced the ban.

Reports suggested the rumour started with a caller to a radio station who said a lobby group intended to send someone in full burka to the parliament building in Canberra. Channel Nine then sent a television crew in anticipation of a protest. The crew were asked why they were there by a police officer who, when told, passed the information on to the building’s security chief who passed it on to Ms Bishop as well as the President of the Senate, Stephen Parry. They then added the ban to official security advice, fearing a group in burkas was planning to disrupt parliament.

Instead of being allowed into the open public galleries “persons with facial coverings” were to be directed to galleries usually reserved for noisy schoolchildren, where they could sit behind soundproof glass. The ban was made a few hours before the end of the final sitting day of parliament’s last two-week session and had no practical effect. It was, however, widely condemned as segregation of Muslim women and a potential breach of anti-discrimination laws.

“In 2014, for two weeks, the official policy of the Australian parliament was to practise segregation,” senior opposition politician Tony Burke said.

Hours before parliament was to resume yesterday, the Department of Parliamentary Services said people wearing face coverings would again be allowed in all public areas.

It said face coverings would have to be removed temporarily at the security checkpoint at the front door so that staff could “identify any person who may have been banned from entering Parliament House or who may be known, or discovered, to be a security risk”.

Mr Abbott later revealed he had not been notified of the planned ban and had asked Ms Bishop to “rethink that decision”.

But Senator Jacqui Lambie from the Palmer United Party said the reversal made Australia appear weak and indecisive on national security.

Ms Bishop told parliament that she and Mr Parry would have been “derelict in our duty” if they had not dealt with “an action planned that would have disrupted the business of the house”.

AP