After a new poll emerged showing over half of Australians support banning the burqa in public places, Pauline Hanson has called for the question to be added to the national postal survey.
Senator Hanson feels the poll of 2832 people reflect how all Australians feel about the clothing, while conservative crossbencher Senator Cory Bernardi blames “abject cowardice” among politicians preventing them from banning the burqa.
However, Islamic Council of Queensland spokesman Ali Kadri said only a small number of Muslim women wore face-coverings, like niqabs and burqas, and they were not a threat.
WATCH: Doug Cameron tears Senator Hanson apart for her “racist rant”.
After wearing a burqa in Parliament last week in a stunt security experts have labelled dangerous, Ms Hanson says the poll reflects what Australians think about the face covering.
“Perhaps while the Government are conducting their plebiscite on same sex marriage, we include the question as to whether Australians want to ban all full face coverings in government buildings and public spaces,” she said.
Mr Kadri countered that Ms Hanson was purely projecting her intolerance of those who are different in Australia.
“I think people who are afraid of burqa or find it confronting know very little about women who wear it,” he said.
In Australia, the number of women who wear a burqa or a niqab, which is often confused for a burqa, is far lower than this debate makes it seem.
The hijab is the overwhelmingly favoured headdress by the majority of the Muslims in Australia who choose to wear any.
The countries where the burqa is primarily worn have comparatively low representation in Australia. Women born in Afghanistan that live in Australia, for instance, represent just 0.04% of the population, and not all of them are Muslims and most don’t wear a burqa.
Before France banned the burqa, only 1900 women wore the niqab (less than 0.00003 per cent of the French population) and that’s still remarkably more than we have here.
Politicians on both sides have cautioned against a burqa ban, despite the garb making them feel “uncomfortable”.
“I think people who aren’t from that culture are uncomfortable with it,” Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said, but he also warned that a ban wouldn’t work.
“There’s a whole range of behaviour from people that have different cultures, different ethnicities, different religions that people might not be comfortable with. But that doesn’t mean you go about banning it.”
WATCH: MP with autistic son has an emotional message for Pauline Hanson.
Cory Bernadi, who was a fierce campaigner for the repeal of 18C for fear it was affecting his right to free speech and freedom of expression, said he called to ban the burqa first in 2009.
“There is an abject cowardice among politicians to do the things that are necessary to maintain our social and cultural cohesion,” he said.
