Mr Turnbull has joined senior MPs from all sides in cautioning against One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's push to ban the burqa.
Senior MPs from all sides of politics have cautioned against a push to ban the burqa, despite a poll suggesting support for the move from the public.
A Sky News/ReachTEL poll has found 44 per cent of people "strongly support" banning the burqa in public places, while a further 13 per cent "support" it.
Of the more than 2,800 people surveyed, 19 per cent "strongly oppose" a ban, and 12 per cent "oppose" it, while the rest are undecided.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told 3AW he is not an admirer of wearing the burqa but it is a basic freedom Australians are entitled to.
"It's, frankly, not something the Commonwealth parliament has the power to do. But I think people in Australia are entitled to wear, basically, whatever they like. They obviously have to show their face when the law requires it for identity -- so, when they're in court or a police officer requires it to check identification, or something like that. But I do worry that the burqa, the full covering ... it does appear to me to be a means of oppressing women, so that's what troubles me about it. But I know there are arguments, you hear arguments, to the contrary."
Attorney-General George Brandis has told Sky News there are situations where it would be inappropriate to wear a burqa.
"In certain circumstances, for security reasons. But as a general proposition, I believe that, in a free country, people should, subject to standards of public decency and the kind of exceptions that I've mentioned, be free to decide for themselves what they want to wear."
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who wore a burqa into the Senate last week, has seized on the poll results.
She has called for including a question on whether Australians want to ban all full-face coverings in government buildings and public spaces in the same-sex marriage postal poll.
Greens leader Richard di Natale has told Sky News the burqa-ban proposal is simple scaremongering and should be ignored.
"What's the problem here? We've got a tiny fraction of our community who decide to wear a particular form of religious and cultural dress. I mean, it's a tiny, tiny group within our community, and the reality is that what we've got is a hate preacher in Pauline Hanson trying to spread fear and division in our community. What for? For her own narrow political purposes. There are so many other important issues as a nation we should be addressing."
