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Sydney, Tony Abbott will ask House Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Senate President Stephen Parry to abandon surprise rules to separate people with facial coverings from other members of the public by forcing them to watch parliament from behind glass after they faced a chorus of condemnation.
The Prime Minister believes the snap change imposed today was unnecessary.
He will raise his concerns about the new rules with the Presiding Officers and ask them to reconsider.
Mr Abbott’s intervention is expected to see the plan dumped.
Ms Bishop and Senator Parry today imposed the change, which followed moves to shut down parts of the building and introduce armed federal police to take over security of the building.
A memo from the Department of Parliamentary Services released said: “persons with facial coverings entering the galleries of the House of Representatives and Senate will be seated in the enclosed galleries.
This will ensure that persons with facial coverings can continue to enter the Chamber galleries, without needing to be identifiable”.
The Prime Minister strongly supports upgraded security at Parliament House but believes there is no need to isolate any person behind glass who want to watch proceedings once they have passed through the two regular security check points.
Mr Abbott had sought to hose down controversy sparked by anti-burka comments he made yesterday, as one of his senior colleagues described the Muslim attire as medieval and demeaning.
The Prime Minister fuelled national debate on the burqa when he declared he found the attire “confronting” and that he wished women wouldn’t wear it.
Opposition, Greens, the Human Rights Commission and Muslim and Jewish groups had blasted the change by Ms Bishop and Senator Parry as unjustifiable segregation and an assault on religious freedom.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie described it as “religious apartheid”.
“The decision by the government to isolate, in their own rooms, burqa-wearers observing the parliament has no security merit at all,” Mr Wilkie said.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten asked for clarification on why it was necessary to keep someone who had been through security screening behind glass.
“Every Australian should feel welcome visiting Parliament House, whatever their background,” he said.
Senator Parry earlier said security officers needed to be able to quickly identify people shouting out from the public galleries.
He said it was an interim measure until Australian Federal Police and ASIO advise on screening policies in relation to garments that hide identity.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane welcomed Mr Abbott’s decision to intervene, having condemned the earlier ruling.
“It’s a welcome development. I saw no good reason to be putting Muslim women in burqa or niqab in a designated glassed area,” he told ABC News 24.
“Every Australian is entitled to fair treatment. No one should be treated as a second-class citizen, not least in their own parliament.”
Parliament does not sit again until October 20.
Ms Bishop’s office told The Australian tonight it had not yet received any request from Mr Abbott.
