Ukraine in Arabic | Australian parliament lifts ban on burqas and niqabs
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Australia's Parliament House on Monday lifted a short-lived ban on facial coverings including burqas and niqabs after the prime minister intervened.
The government department that runs Parliament House announced earlier this month that "persons with facial coverings" would no longer be allowed in the open public galleries of the House of Representatives or the Senate. Instead, they were to be directed to galleries usually reserved for noisy schoolchildren, where they could sit behind sound-proof glass.
The backdown followed a decision on Oct.2 by Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Senate President Stephen Parry to seat people wearing face coverings in areas normally reserved for noisy school children while visiting parliament.
It followed heated debate about potential security risks since the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) organization.
The ruling was condemned by human rights and race discrimination groups.
Race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane told Fairfax Media the original ruling meant Muslim women were being treated differently to non-Muslim women.
“No-one should be treated like a second-class citizen, not least in the parliament,” he said.
“I have yet to see any expert opinion or analysis to date which indicates that the burqa or the niqab represents an additional or special security threat.”
Labor opposition frontbencher Tony Burke welcomed the backdown but said the initial decision should never have been made.
“What possessed them to think that segregation was a good idea?” he said.
“Segregation was previously introduced, apparently, with no security advice attached to it and no security reason attached to it.”
The Department of Parliamentary Services said in a statement that the rules had been changed and all visitors must now “temporarily remove any coverings” that prevent the recognition of facial features.
“This will enable security staff to identify anyone who may have been banned from entering the building or who may be known to be a security risk,” it said.
“Once this process has taken place visitors are free to move about the public spaces of the building, including all chamber galleries, with facial coverings in place”.
Australia has been on edge since the rise of ISIS with the government tightening counter-terrorism laws and police in recent weeks conducting major terror raids amid fears of an attack on home soil by radicalized Australians.
The country was one of the first nations to join the United States’ aerial campaign against the militant group, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and is increasingly seen as a global threat.
On Sunday, Canberra said it had reached a deal with Baghdad for the deployment of about 200 special forces to assist Iraqi troops in their fight against militants.
