Nationals push to ban burka in public places

The Nationals will vote on a policy to ban the burka in public places and government buildings.

Burka motion ... Nationals MP George Christensen. Picture: AAP

The Nationals will this weekend vote on a policy to ban the burka in a move aimed at preventing ­Islamic women from wearing the covering in public places and government buildings.

The motion to the party’s federal conference, put forward by Queensland MP George Christensen, would prevent the burka being worn in parliament, and ­Centrelink and Medicare offices, and increase pressure on Malcolm Turnbull to support a crackdown against facial coverings.

A Sky News/ReachTell poll of 2832 people across Australia last month found 43.6 per cent of ­respondents “strongly” supported a ban on the burka in public while a further 12.7 per cent supported the idea, meaning a ­majority of 56.3 per cent were generally in favour of a ban.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson revived the burka debate when she wore the headdress in the Senate chamber last month, triggering a review of the formal dress code in the upper house and a condemnation by government Senate leader George Brandis.

The Nationals’ motion, which will be proposed as an “urgency resolution” by Mr Christensen, will be voted on at the party’s federal conference in Canberra on Sunday and, if it wins support, would become Nationals policy.

Mr Christensen, who represents the Queensland seat of Dawson, argues the garment poses a security risk and is not “conducive to friendly relations”.

“Obviously people think, what are they hiding? And therein lies the security issue; if you don’t know who is under the veil, if you don’t know what’s under the veil, anything could happen,” he told The Australian yesterday.

Mr Christensen said his ­motion would cover all kinds of facial coverings including balaclavas and masks used by extremist groups on the left and right, including the anti-fascist Antifa movement and nationalists in the United ­Patriots Front. The ­motion allows for the burka to be worn in “places of worship”.

“This isn’t against Islam,” Mr Christensen said. “If you have a look at statements that have been made by very senior Islamic clerics around the world, the niqab and the burka are not Islamic ­garments.” He referred to 2011 reports quoting the Grand Imam of the al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Ahmed el-Tayeb, saying the niqab was “not obligatory in our religion” but a “cultural tradition” predating Islam.

The Nationals push is being framed as an attempt to help the regional party stem the flow of votes to One Nation in Queensland and the Shooters and Fishers Party in NSW. The Australian understands the motion has ­already won support from some NSW delegates.

“If it gets up at the Nationals federal conference, I will be doing whatever I can to push this ­agenda within the Coalition,” Mr Christensen said. “I will be pushing for our leadership to implement this.”

The resolution ­requires the backing of 75 per cent of delegates, but Mr Christensen said he was confident the conference would vote to allow the burka ban to be debated by almost 300 expected delegates. Once the motion reached this stage, it would only need majority support to become policy. Mr Christensen expects debate to be “quite furious on both sides”.

Senator Hanson told The Australian she hoped the review of the Senate dress code would show “common sense” and “full face coverings, like the burka, will no longer be permitted”.