Senior MPs from both sides have cautioned against a push to ban the burqa despite a poll showing half of Australians would support the move.
A Sky News/ReachTEL found 44 per cent of people ‘strongly supported’ banning the burqa in public places, while a further 13 per cent ‘supported’ it.
Of the more than 2800 people surveyed, 19 per cent strongly opposed a ban, 12 per cent opposed, while the rest were undecided.
A new poll shows more than half of Australians support banning the burqa in public places (stock image)
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson (pictured) seized on the poll, saying burqas in public places put ‘the entire country at risk’
Senator Hanson wore a burqa into the Senate last week (pictured) claiming no security guards asked for her ID
Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne said his concern about the burqa was that it isolated women from society.
‘I think that is a dangerous thing,’ he told Nine Network on Friday.
‘It’s nothing to do with it being Muslim or any other kind of religion for that matter.
‘Pauline Hanson and One Nation wanted to make it about Muslim women, but I think it’s more about isolating any kind of woman from society.’
Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese conceded to being ‘uncomfortable’ when the burqa was worn in public.
‘I think people who aren’t from that culture are uncomfortable with it,’ he said.
A Sky News/ReachTEL found 44 per cent of people ‘strongly supported’ banning the burqa in public places, while a further 13 per cent ‘supported’ it
The One Nation leader (pictured in the burqa) said the stunt was to expose security threats to Parliament, calling for the ban
But he also warned bans doesn’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.’
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who wore a burqa into the Senate last week, seized on the poll.
‘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 told News Corp.
‘You are doing ISIS’s work for them.
‘You are putting the entire country at risk.’
Senator Hanson claimed she walked past security guards wearing the burqa and none of them asked to confirm her identity.
The One Nation leader said the stunt was to expose the security threats to Parliament, calling for the ban.