Burka-clad visitors to Parliament House to be made to sit in glass-enclosed galleries

Updated

A decision to force Muslim women who cover their faces to sit in a separate glass-enclosed public gallery in Federal Parliament has been slammed by Australia's Human Rights Commissioner.

Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Senate President Stephen Parry have approved new interim rules at Parliament House applying to anyone wearing "facial coverings".

The Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) said: "Persons with facial coverings entering the galleries of the House of Representatives and Senate will be seated in the enclosed galleries. This will ensure that persons with facial coverings can continue to enter the chamber galleries without needing to be identifiable."

The enclosed galleries are usually used by visiting school parties.

Senator Parry told Parliament that it was a "management measure in relation to ... control of the public galleries".

"If there is an incident or someone is interjecting from the gallery, which as senators would know happens from time to time, they need to be identified quickly and easily so they can be removed from that interjection," he said.

"Or if they are asked to be removed from the gallery - and we need to know who that person is so they cannot return to the gallery, disguised or otherwise."

Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson, who is a former head of free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs and a Liberal Party member, said the decision was "ill-considered" and would "segregate people on the basis of what they're wearing".

"I think [it] is utterly unjustified and is based on no real evidence or reason when people have already gone through security checkpoints and have already been cleared by security," he told Sky News.

Labor senator Penny Wong asked why senators had not been consulted, and Greens leader Christine Milne said it was "appalling".

"They will be relegated to an area of the Parliament which is usually reserved for schoolchildren - behind glass, where parliamentarians don't have to see or hear them," she said.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie likened the rule to "religious apartheid" and said it was "deeply wrong".

"The decision by the Government to isolate, in their own rooms, burka wearers observing the Parliament has no security merit at all," he said in a statement.

The DPS said the rules would take effect immediately.

The new security controls also stipulated that anyone receiving a pass to enter the private areas of Parliament House would have to show photo ID.

"Procedures are in place to ensure that DPS Security manage any cultural or religious issues relating to this in a sensitive and appropriate manner," DPS said.

Senator Parry said "if people have a cultural or religious sensitivity in relation to this, they will be given the privacy and sensitivity that is required in relation to that identification".

A request from Liberal senator Cory Bernardi to ban "facial coverings" at security checkpoints as people enter the building is "under review".

But the senator has welcomed the interim decision.

"Parliament House is the people's building. The people who come here should feel safe," he told ABC News 24.

'No-one should be treated like a second-class citizen'

Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane criticised the new rules, tweeting that: "No-one should be treated like a second-class citizen, not least in their own parliament".

"Those who have visited Parliament will know that entry requires a person to pass through a security check," he said.

"People must pass through a metal detector and subject their personal items to an X-ray examination."

Earlier Dr Soutphommasane described calls to ban the garment as "baffling", saying they could lead to attacks against Muslims while fuelling extremist propaganda.

"There can be no room for reckless rhetoric," he said. "Unfortunately, we have been let down by some of our parliamentarians."

Dr Soutphommasane said there was no evidence burkas represented a special security risk, and any ban "may simply increase cultural tensions and social distrust".

"As for banning the burka, the proposal is baffling for a number of reasons," he said.

"It may provide fuel for extremist propaganda and assist extremists in recruiting disillusioned young Australians to their cause.

"It may also have the unedifying effect of inviting further bigotry against Muslims."

Dr Soutphommasane made the comments in a speech at the National Conference on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees in Sydney.

Recently Senator Bernardi and Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie both called for burkas to be banned in public.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he wished the garments were not worn in Australia, but indicated he would not support a general ban because Australia was a "free country".

In Parliament Thursday, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten criticised those supporting a ban and faulted Mr Abbott for not speaking against his MPs.

"The Prime Minister cannot preach tolerance while allowing his colleagues to practice intolerance," Mr Shorten said.

Fears burka debate is fuelling prejudice

Dr Soutphommasane's speech followed alleged attacks on Muslims in Sydney and Melbourne and incidents which have seen Australian mosques defaced with anti-Islamic slogans.

Muslims were also being abused in "streets, parks and shops", Dr Soutphommasane said.

He said very few Muslim women in Australia wore burkas, which have grilles to conceal the eyes, though some wore niqabs, which have openings for the eyes.

"Whether the advocates have confused the burka with the niqab, or perhaps even with the hijab, is perhaps unclear," he said.

He warned there were signs "anti-Muslim bigotry" was being mistakenly directed at other minority groups, saying Sikh Australians had become targets of abuse because "people are linking turbans to terrorism".

Muslim Women's Association chief executive Maha Abdo said a ban on burkas would make some women afraid to leave their homes.

"We are pushing them back into their homes, we're pushing them away from society that we want them to be part of," she said.

She said attacks against women wearing Islamic clothing in Australia were increasing.

Seventeen-year-old Ayshia, who did not want to give her last name, said a woman tried to tear off her hijab when she got off a tram.

"She followed me and she was starting to call me names such as 'the terrorist, Osama Bin Laden' and all of these things," Ayshia told AM.

"I got off from the tram. I had to go past a park and this lady, suddenly she got sick of me and then she approached me and then she touched [my] hijab. She was going to pull it.

"It made me feel unsafe, like every time I passed a street or something I'd get a word from people saying 'terrorist' or whatever.

"I mean, I love Australia so much. I'm from Iraq and it saved me."

Ms Abdo said many attacks were often happening with children present.

"What we're getting reports of at the Muslim Women's Association is increased numbers of verbal abuse, in your local park, where your children are interacting with other children, and sometimes there's violent attacks that are taking place," she said.

Ms Abdo said the decisions of Muslim women around their dress should be respected.

"I'd call on our leadership to come down and meet with Muslim women, discuss the issues," she said.

"If it is, what they're saying, a security threat, explain to us what it is and I'm sure we can work together on that."

Topics: federal-election-2007, federal-government, islam, community-and-society, australia

First posted