The controversial plan to make Muslim women wearing burqas and the niqab sit in glassed enclosures at Parliament House, which has now been dumped, was put in place without any prior advice from security agencies.
But Senate president Stephen Parry has insisted the October 2 decision to introduce the interim ban was “prudent” and based on advice that up to 10 people, including some men, were planning to conduct a protest inside Parliament House while “wearing concealing garments”.
“The best and most immediate response was to enable us to ensure the identity of those people in the public gallery. I think that was a prudent decision for that particular day,” Senator Parry told a Senate estimates hearing on Monday.
Parliamentary Services officials, the Black Rod, the Serjeant-at-Arms, the Speaker Bronwyn Bishop, the Senate President and members of their staff were present at a meeting that decided to put the ban in place. Neither the AFP or ASIO were present at a meeting in the Speaker’s office.
Appearing before estimates a short time later, the Secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services, Carol Mills, said the Australian Federal Police did, however, advise them “mid-morning” that there could be a protest that day.
“On the morning of 2 October, I am advised that staff in our security operations room were notified, what I will call mid-morning, that there was a potential protest, possibly occurring at Parliament House that day,” Ms Mills said.
“That advice came from the AFP.”
Visitors required to ‘temporarily remove’ facial coverings
In a statement issued on Monday morning, the Department of Parliamentary Services said anyone wearing a burqa and trying to enter Parliament House will be now asked to “temporarily remove” their facial covering.
“This will enable DPS security staff to identify any person who may have been banned from entering Parliament House or who may be known, or discovered, to be a security risk,” the statement said.
“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.”
It’s believed the rumoured protest was sparked by a campaign by the Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, Nationals MP George Christensen and Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie against the garment being worn in public spaces.
The decision to segregate women wearing the burqa was immediately condemned by the federal human rights and race discrimination commissioners.
The segregation was never put in place, however it is believed to have contributed to Mrs Bishop’s failed bid to win a top international position in Geneva last week.
Further explanation on decision needed: Labor
Labor’s Manager of Opposition Business, Tony Burke, welcomed the backdown but said the Speaker and Senator Parry still owed the Parliament an explanation.
“It’s been an absurd fortnight as we’ve waited for a backdown that logically had to occur and... both the Speaker and the President need to explain why on earth this farce was initiated,” Mr Burke told reporters.
At the conclusion of question time, Mr Burke sought to quiz Mrs Bishop about what led to the segregation plan and its aftermath.
He asked “did you Madame Speaker receive a request from the Prime Minister to reconsider the policy?”
“In a word no,” Mrs Bishop replied.
The Speaker said they had agreed to the interim ruling because there were no private spaces where anyone wearing a burqa could be asked to lift their veil for identification.
She refused to confirm whether she received advice from Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s office ahead of the ruling.
Senator Parry said he and Mrs Bishop had always always envisaged the October 2 decision would be “subject to further review”.
“The effect of these new interim measures [announced on Monday] are primarily to ensure enhanced measures at the point of entry to Parliament House,” he said.
“This will be by way of identifying each person as they enter, by their facial features, and by enabling persons with facial coverings to move from that point freely into the public portions of the building, including the chamber galleries.
“An inhibiting factor prior to today was that visitors could enter the building with facial coverings and never be identified, particularly if they were a person who had been banned or a person who was known as a security threat.”
Parliament’s chambers not ‘sporting arenas': Parry
During the estimates hearing, Senator Parry also confirmed that he had met with Mr Abbott and the Speaker, as well as the heads of ASIO and the AFP in the days before the ban was put in place, but the proposed segregation of burqa or niqab wearers was not discussed at that meeting.
He said that when the temporary measure was put in place, he had not expected burqa or niqab wearers would have had to sit with school children as one of the three glassed in viewing galleries was rarely used and Senator Parry expected the Department of Parliamentary Services would have made use of this gallery.
“I would never have imagined that they would have been together,” he said.
Senator Parry said safety and security were one of his key responsibilities and that Australians needed to remember that “the two chambers are not sporting arenas, or spheres for interjection, inter-participation of disruption by visitors to the chamber galleries”.
“One of the freedoms that we continue to enjoy is that anyone can view live the proceedings of our Parliament,” he said. “With this freedom comes the onus upon all visitors to respect the fact that the chamber proceedings and debate must not be interrupted.”
Backdown a morale boost for extremists: Lambie
Senator Lambie labelled the backdown on the burqa ban a morale booster for Islamic extremists.
“The decision today to allow burqas and other forms of identity concealing items of dress to be worn in Australia’s Parliament will put a smile on the face of the overseas Islamic extremists and their supporters in Australia,” she said.
“Today’s decision will prove how weak and indecisive we have become as a nation and how our PM lacks the courage of his convictions when it comes to Australia’s national security.”
Senator Bernardi welcomed the new identity checks but said he was disappointed the new measure didn’t extend to a total burqa ban.
“I welcome the requirement to be visually identified,” Senator Bernardi told Fairfax Media.
“But I think the decision against a blanket ban on identity concealing garments is more a sop to political correctness than anything else.’