Advertisement

Burqa segregation plan dumped

Oct 20, 2014
The House of Representatives

The House of Representatives

A controversial plan to segregate people wearing face coverings in Parliament House has been abandoned.

The Department of Parliamentary Services says all visitors to Parliament House will be required to 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, the DPS said in a statement on Monday.

“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.”

The new security arrangements reverse a decision announced on October 2 to seat people wearing coverings like burqas in glassed-off areas normally reserved for noisy school children.

That decision – made by Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Senate President Stephen Parry – came after a week of heated debate about the potential security risk posed by burqas.

But it provoked widespread outrage and prompted Prime Minister Tony Abbott to intervene.

The DPS says those security measures have now been “enhanced”.

Procedures are in place to ensure that security manage the arrangements in a “sensitive and appropriate manner”, it says.

Local News Matters
Advertisement
Copyright © 2024 InDaily.
All rights reserved.