Australia’s prime minister has called on parliament officials to reconsider a new security measure which gives restricted access to veiled visitors to the Parliament House in Canberra.
“I asked the speaker to re-think that decision and my understanding is that it was an interim decision, that it would be looked at again in the light of security advice that will come in coming days and I’m sure that the matter will be fully resolved,” Tony Abbott said on Friday in reference to Bronwyn Kathleen Bishop, the speaker of the House of Representatives.
“In public areas of this building, people ought to be allowed to wear what they want,” the Australian premier stated, adding, “In a democracy such as ours, in a free and pluralist democracy, it’s not the business of government to tell people what they should and shouldn’t wear.”
Abbott made the remarks shortly after a number of Muslim groups and opposition members of parliament voiced anger at the decision, saying it is a blatant breach of the anti-discrimination law in Australia.
On Thursday, the parliament announced that women who have facial coverings will be denied access to the open public places of the House of Representatives or the Senate. Instead, they are directed to sound-proof enclosed galleries.
The decision was made “in light of the increased threat environment,” read the statement issued by the Australian parliament.
The Australian government has recently tightened its anti-terror laws citing security concerns over those citizens who travel to the Middle East to fight for the ISIL Takfiri militant group.
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Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/10/03/380913/aussie-pm-urges-lifting-veil-restriction/
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