Tony Abbott Kinda, Sorta Wishes People Wouldn’t Wear The Burqa At All

Welp. Here’s another one for the ole’ “Big Tone says the Darndest Things” file.

Our freely elected Prime Minister Tony Abbott, leader of the Liberal Party and leader of Australia, really wishes that people straight-up wouldn’t wear burqas at all, ever.
The Federal Parliament is currently in the midst of a mildly contested debate over whether or not the traditional Islamic dress should be allowed inside Parliament House. We all know how some of the more extreme-right types like Jacqui Lambie or Cory Bernardi feel about the issue, having made their thoughts more than heard in prior days. This morning, Abbott’s chief of staff Peta Credlin backed the move to ban the garment within the walls of Parliament House. Not only has Tony Abbott agreed with that stance, but he scarily went a little further, showing his own personal hand in the debate.
The argument for banning the burqa within Parliament House primarily revolves around security, and the fact that it is a secure building. The problem there, is that pushing to make the ban within Parliament house makes it sound like a problem has existed up until this point, which by all accounts seems to be untrue. Abbott himself said as much today:

Has anyone ever sought entry to this building so attired? As far as I’m aware, no.

Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan stated that not only has she also not seen anyone donning the traditional religious dress in Parliament House – even when attending Islamic events – but that the whole debate was a “pathetic attempt to whip up division,” and a “concocted problem” that has the dangerous effect of “raising the temperature on an already difficult issue” – comments that were backed up by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, who called for bi-partisan support to promote social cohesion.
And then, this happened.
Whilst Tony Abbott remarked that, “We are free country, we are a free society and it’s not the business of government to tell people what they should and shouldn’t wear,” and cautioned against making “a mountain out of a molehill” in this instance, he then came out with this absolute pearler of a quote, citing his own personal stance on things.

I find it a fairly confronting form of attire and frankly I wish it weren’t worn.

*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

With head in hands, we calmly remind you all at this point that any blanket ban on the burqa would be contrary to the Constitution, which explicitly prevents legislating against the free practice of religion.
Lower House Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Senate President Stephen Parry are currently meeting with Parliament Security to decide whether ratify the written request from Cory Bernardi to ban the burqa inside Parliamentary buildings.
Talk about your dream teams. Yeesh.
Photo: Andrew Burton via Getty Images.

via SMH.

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