Ban the Burqa day in Australia and the World
Channel: Samueldeeb
Date: 2011-07-11

The burqa, a traditional dress of conservative Muslim women which completely covers the face, is also becoming the disguise of choice for criminals.

This week a man dressed in a burqa staged an armed hold up in Sydney, just as another bank robber and a jewellery thief did the same in the UK, sparking calls for Australia to follow other countries and ban the traditional dress.

The new form of criminal disguise has seen a range of reactions - from people calling for a complete ban, to just a ban in banks, and other people calling for a ban in all public buildings.

Radio 4bcs Michael Smith has been pushing for a change of law for some time.

"It needs to be banned in areas around the shop, around the bank, the chemist, and those sorts of places."

Yesterday South Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi called for a blanket ban saying, "The burqa is no longer simply the symbol of female repression and Islamic culture, it is now emerging as a disguise of bandits and n'er do wells."

But he's since run for cover himself. Attempts to ban it here have been met with strong opposition.

3AW's Neil Mitchell says it is a complete overreaction and illogical.

"We've had one case of a man wearing a burqa in a robbery and then this is being argued as a trend. It is nonsense."

Ahiida Zanetti who runs a successful Muslim swimwear business called burqinis says, "I think banks are a different issue, but if you're going to ban them on the street are you going to ban beards because people hide behind them? And pantyhose because people put them over their head?"

Michael Brook Jones is the former head of the Iraqi secret service and now runs private security company Sharp End International. He says the burqa is the perfect cover for terrorists and criminals but he doesn't believe a complete ban is necessary.

"It's an issue because of the fact that we rely heavily on facial identification."

"I think that we could probably introduce some measures so they could still integrate with security issues without offending their religious beliefs," says Michael.

And while any ban here would most likely be a breach of religious rights, the Burqa is banned in France, Belgium and Tunisia. It's also effectively banned in Italy under anti-terrorism laws which have been in effect since the 1970s, making it illegal to appear in public with your face covered.

Schools in the Netherlands have a ban on the burqa, as they have in the UK and Egypt. Switzerland and Germany are now too debating a ban. But at the moment, it is a long way from making it to our parliament.

'''So what do you think - should the burqa be banned in public places?

If you  live in Australia and think yes they should be banned call 1902 558 770