A bill to ban burqa in Australia’s most populous state New South Wales on Thursday fell through as centrist and leftist legislators condemned it as racist.
The bill had been moved by the leader of the rightist Christian Democratic Party Fred Nile, who had called for banning burqa citing security reasons and to what he called “set women free from domination of males.”
The legislation had been moved apparently to keep up with the trend in Europe where nations like France and Belgium are heading to ban the burqa. Mr Nile’s bill was defeated in the state’s Upper House by 26 to 3 votes, with members opposing saying that such a step would spread fear and hatred in the country. The legislation was moved following a nationwide heated debate sparked earlier this month by conservative legislators who called for a ban on the burqa, claiming it was emerging as the “preferred disguise of bandits and ne’er-do-wells”. These comments were apparently prompted by the use of burqa in a daring armed robbery in Sydney. But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made it clear that enforcing such a ban was not a state policy. Mr Nile’s Full-face Coverings Prohibition Bill was modelled on legislation recently passed by Belgium Parliament.
He said concealment of a person’s face — male or female — for any purpose, including terrorism, anarchism or discrimination against women, should be banned. “We must do all we can to protect women, especially Muslim women, from discrimination and oppression so they live an open lifestyle,” Mr Nile said.
—PTI