The point being MAY MAY when an individual is clad in a Burqa it's difficult to establish the sex of that person, if even the eyes are masked by that black weaved, muslin material ?

As I said in my earlier thread, I've no problem with a women if she 'chooses' (of her own accord), to wear a Burqa. As long as she's prepared to remove the head component, to facilitate ID in the correct circumstances.

Dear May May,

It's not just the eyes.

To me covering someone's entire face is a
question of freedom and of a woman's dignity.
The burqa represents possessiveness and oppression.
It is not a religious issue. It is a sign of subjugation.
The submission of women - deprived of their identity.
And has no place in a democratic country like ours.
That's just the way I feel.

Dear Foxy,

With the greatest respect you have not responded to my contention.

Firstly let me quote you directly;

“When coming to this country you are
asked to subscribe to certain values. If you have strong
objections to those values, don't come to Australia.”

Does subscribing to your certain values involve women dressing more immodestly than they would otherwise be comfortable with?

The prime instigator of the so called 'Burka ban' is one odious individual called Cory Bernardi. Do you really think that once he had the Parliament House ban in place that he wouldn't have looked to have it extended to all Commonwealth buildings 'in the name of security'? So how long would it be before a woman needing to attend Centrelink would be required to remove her religious garb to access services.

So when you say;

“There is no law that expects you to bare your breasts 
in public in Tahiti, Hawaii or PNG, so your argument 
does not quite wash.”

I feel you are not considering the implications of the ban.

But the crux of this lies in the following question;

Why am I, a male, prepared to 'respect a woman's right to a higher personal standard' than you, a compassionate and commendable warrior for womens rights?

Please don't consider this as confrontational as I am seriously interested to hear your answer.

We know whose side Cory Bernardi is on and it isn't "Team Australia", the general feeling among White Nationalists is to wonder how far the Israel firsters will push this and how many of our people, not to mention Muslims are going to be hurt in the process.
It's debatable whether "social cohesion" is possible with Muslims or whether it's even desirable but nobody wants things to be worse than they already are.

Dear SteeleRedux,

I hear what you are saying and you have raised
some very valid points to which I'm not quite
sure how to reply without coming across as some
sort of bigot. All I can do is try to share my
feelings with you.

I don't have a problem
with what Muslim women choose to wear. I do have
a problem with the burqa - which is the most concealing
and covers the entire face and body. Covering one's
face does not sit well with me. I view that as a
total sign of subjugation, depriving women of
their identity. A sign of possesiveness and oppression.
And I can't understand the reasons for doing it -
when there are other choices that are not as harsh
and achieve the same results.

Cory Bernardi can go jump as far as I'm concerned and
of course I would question any permanent restrictions.
But I doubt whether it will ever come to that.
I believe that
here in Australia the burqa is not a common sight as
only a minority of Muslim women wear it and as such it
is new and unfamiliar to most of us (hence we tend to
pass judgement against the burqa probably without the
full knowledge of its significance).

Anyway, I'm not sure if I've answered your questions
this time around - but I hope that you understand
where my mind's at

'You people do realise that our Parliament has just decided to segregate people of a certain religion if they visit Parliament - even though they been cleared to enter by security.

Fine with that, are we?

actually Poirot I would feel more comfortable if the idiotic Greens were forced to wear burqa's everytime they make an idiotic statement.