“Islamic vilification”? Only in your deluded mind C J Morgan am I vilifying Islam since I was referring to the criminal element which has hijacked the burqa. Hypocrite’s ingratiation and nauseous blandishments to a specific religious community is offensive.

“Under your previous pseudonym of "dickie", you were pretty handy at dishing it out, as I recall.”

Indeed C J Morgan - I have a reputation for retaliation and also for defending myself from those who initiate the abuse.

In fact many of my more timid friends (including those from other nations, the hearing impaired and not least, dumb animals) constantly call on me to protect them from arrogant abusers like yourself.

Public comment on public safety will not be censored by the likes of you CJ. Nor will it be censored on issues of criminality within our borders. When state and commonwealth parliamentary committees publicly advise citizens that:

”556 suspects linked to Middle Eastern crime were arrested in 2007 and charged with more than 1,500 offences. The list of charges brought against the suspects in the 12 months to December include 281 charges for drugs, 126 firearms charges, 140 theft and fraud charges, 41 violence charges, and more than 700 traffic-related offences.

“Last month alone the the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad made 37 arrests and laid 124 charges. MEOCS has worked incredibly hard to take dangerous criminals off our streets, stop them from pushing dangerous drugs onto our children and threatening the safety of hardworking families”

then the public are invited to comment. Get it C J Morgan?

When Hansard refers to the Asian triads, Colombian drug cartels, Italian and Russian mafia and bikie gangs operating and infiltrating Australia, we do not hear your screechings of racial or religious vilification. Nor do we hear screechings of racial or religious vilification from our hard-working Asian or Italian communities who just get on with it.

The diatribe from a sooking twenty two year old Islamic feminist you ask? Yep get 'em while they're young and impressionable! What has an Islamic feminist to do with concealing one's identity, may I ask?

I wonder how many of those "Middle Eastern" criminals were wearing burqas?

Thanks for proving my point, Protagaras. Of course you have every right to comment on "Middle Eastern" crime statistics, but to introduce them into a discussion about women wearing burqas is vilification. There is no logical link between "Middle Eastern" crime rates in Australia and whether or not women should be allowed to wear burqas in public.

I saw a doco about this issue on SBS a while back, where one of the women interviewed was an Anglo-Australian convert to Islam who chose to wear the burqa for what she said were religious reasons. What relevance does crime among "Middle Eastern" Australians have to her?

<< The diatribe from a sooking twenty two year old Islamic feminist you ask? >>

You didn't read it, did you? The opinion of an articulate young Muslim Australian woman on the issue is irrelevant, I suppose.

The Anglo-Australian convert who chooses to wear the burqa is almost undoubtedly on a par with other unfortunate vulnerable individuals who get caught up in dangerous cults. They quickly become brainwashed and delusional in thought and no amount of logic or evidence can change their minds.

Wait .... oh dear! That sounds a little like one of the more regular posters on this forum ....

CF,
Oh you might well be right, perhaps I’m taking the security risks too lightly.
I’d be much more concerned about chaplains hanging around the school than about a woman in burqa picking up her child.
I’ll need to give this topic a bit more thought, but for most part I do agree that when ID is required, there should be no way out.

I just find this a hard topic and at the moment it all comes across to me as blown out of proportion.
A few burqa wearing women in Australia and people are scare mongering as if these are a main security risk in this country.
I mean, anyone could wear their gran’s favourite loose-fitting knitted jumper over a bomb-belt, in any bag could be a bomb waiting to explode. People dressed ala James Bond could hide a bullet-shooting pen. The clowns performing at Darling Harbour during school holidays could be paedophiles conspiring with the fire-eaters.
If you want, you can see danger and security risks almost everywhere.

Protagoras,
Have you heard of Godwin’s law?
Glad we’ve made it past this point!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

And noooo, I did not suggest that
“we can issue a passport on 'proof' of ID if relevant agencies go to the expense of providing a private room and additional staff …”
I agreed with CF that it could be ‘user pays’, remember?

I’m merely brainstorming to see if there can be a solution.

What I want to know is, if my ideas are so crap, then what is your solution or idea about security since (at least I *think* you're against a ban?

I thought CJ made the best suggestions so far.

Do you know how to improve on them if you don't agree?
It’s not like we're on the front bench, or that our ideas will be carved in stone. We can just play with ideas here, can’t we?

Celivia, "I’d be much more concerned about chaplains hanging around the school than about a woman in burqa picking up her child."

Why so when the chaplain like all authorised persons whose role requires them to be around children has had to get a blue card (or similar in other States), has a photographic ID pass, is scheduled to be on the grounds at the time and is recognised by all who see him. His head and face are bare.

Blue card system: http://www.ccypcg.qld.gov.au/employment/index.html

The education department in your State should be able to advise you on best practice for school security.

CF
I'm sure that all the child molesting priests had bare faces too. It's other body parts that they should've kept covered.

And it's not only that, but the advice they would give to young teenagers about anything to do with sex and contraception would certainly not be a balanced view.

When my daughter was in year 3 she suddenly wanted to go to the Anglican scripture class which her friend always attended, because she was bored by herself every Wednesday, sitting in a vacant classroom and having to do maths either far below or far above her level (as it would be 'unfair' to the kids who went to scripture if she would have extra practice or god forbid, learned something.
She came home upset because some red-faced, glass-eyed woman in a mean voice told the kids that they would all go to hell and burn forever if they would steal from others.
Seriously, not making this up.
I went to the school and asked why they pull psychopaths off the street to teach scripture.
Then my daughter 'chose' to go back to do the boring maths again rather than listen to this utter nonsense.

Look I'm not saying that people should go into schools all covered, but just that a bare face doesn't always mean normalcy.