HOW THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL RESPONDED TO PAULINE HANSON'S BURQA STUNT AND QUESTION:
HANSON: In light of our national security of this nation, will you work to ban the burqa in Australia?
BRANDIS: No, we will not be banning the burqa.
Senator Hanson, I am not going to pretend to ignore the stunt that you have tried to pull today by arriving in the chamber dressed in a burqa when we all know that you are not an adherent of the Islamic faith.
I would caution and counsel you with respect to be very, very careful of the offence you may do to the religious sensibilities of other Australians.
We have about 500,000 Australians in this country of the Islamic faith. And the vast majority of them are law-abiding good Australians.
It is absolutely consistent with being a good, law-abiding Australian and being a strict adherent Muslim.
For the last four years, I have had responsibility pre-eminently among the ministers subject to the prime minister for national security policy.
And I can tell you, Senator Hanson, that it has been the advice of each director-general of security with whom I have worked and each commissioner of the Australian Federal Police with whom I have worked that it is vital for their intelligence and law enforcement work that they work cooperatively with the Muslim community.
To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do and I would ask you to reflect on what you have done.
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