Editing Burqa (section)

===Oceania===
====Australia====
{{Main|Burqa ban in Australia}}
In 2010, Australian Liberal Senator [[Cory Bernardi]] called for the burqa to be banned in Australia, branding it "un-Australian". The ban did not go ahead, but the debate about the burqa continues.<ref>{{cite news|title=Burqa bans: thinly veiled discrimination?|url=http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/voices/poll-position/burqa-bans-thinly-veiled-discrimination.htm|access-date=15 December 2011|newspaper=Australian Times|date=14 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509165004/http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/voices/poll-position/burqa-bans-thinly-veiled-discrimination.htm|archive-date=9 May 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/burqua-ruling-must-be-made-by-sa-speaker-lyn-breuer/story-e6frea6u-1225944811804|title=Demand for hijab ruling causes uproar in State Parliament|publisher=Adelaide Now|date=29 October 2010|access-date=15 December 2011|archive-date=3 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903075225/http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/burqua-ruling-must-be-made-by-sa-speaker-lyn-breuer/story-e6frea6u-1225944811804|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2011, Carnita Matthews of Sydney was sentenced to six months jail for making a statement accusing a police officer of attempting to forcibly lift her niqab, which news sources initially referred to incorrectly as a burqa.<ref name="costs">{{cite news|url=http://www.news.com.au/national/burqa-wearing-woman-carnita-matthews-to-seek-costs/story-e6frfkvr-1226080347298|work=The Daily Telegraph|title=Burqa wearing-woman Carnita Matthews to seek legal costs|date=23 June 2011|access-date=3 July 2011|archive-date=26 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110626184446/http://www.news.com.au/national/burqa-wearing-woman-carnita-matthews-to-seek-costs/story-e6frfkvr-1226080347298|url-status=live}}</ref> The officer had pulled her over for a random breath test and then ticketed her for a licence infringement. Matthews allegedly then submitted a signed complaint to a police station while wearing a niqab. Judge Clive Jeffreys overturned the conviction in June 2011, citing what he thought were differences between the signature on her license and that on the complaint.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fife-Yeomans|first=Janet|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/new-twist-in-carnita-matthews-burqa-case/story-e6freuzi-1226085143698|title=No covering up similar signatures in Carnita Matthews burqa case|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=1 July 2011|access-date=15 December 2011}}</ref> She then proceeded to seek legal costs.<ref name="costs"/> Matthews was subsequently revealed to have a considerable record of unpaid fines and licence revocations that cast doubt on her character.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/national/muslim-woman-accused-of-making-false-police-statement-avoids-jail-over-identity-doubt/news-story/5b693561f28957a281b53049291e7932|title=Carnita Matthew, accused of making a false statement, has history of not paying fines|date=22 June 2011|website=www.news.com.au|access-date=2 September 2017|archive-date=2 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902094608/http://www.news.com.au/national/muslim-woman-accused-of-making-false-police-statement-avoids-jail-over-identity-doubt/news-story/5b693561f28957a281b53049291e7932|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Multiple image
| total_width       = 400
| image1            = Say no to Burqas mural in Newtown, New South Wales.jpg
| image2            = Say No To Burqas grafitti.png
| footer            = "Say no to burqas" mural in [[Newtown, New South Wales]], before (left), modification (middle) and vandalism (right)
| image3            = Say no to Burqas mural vandalized (5359900150).jpg
}}

On 4 July 2011, [[New South Wales]] became the first Australian state to pass laws allowing police to demand that burqas (and other headgear such as motorcycle helmets) be removed when asking for identification.

In October 2014, the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra decreed that female visitors wearing a face covering would have to sit in the separated glassed-in areas of the public gallery normally reserved for schoolchildren. This was in response to a planned disruptive action by a political activist group. Prime Minister Tony Abbott stated that he opposed this restriction.<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-02/abbott-seeks-to-overturn-parliament-burka-restrictions/5787072 "Tony Abbott steps in to have Parliament House burka restrictions overturned"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003003108/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-02/abbott-seeks-to-overturn-parliament-burka-restrictions/5787072 |date=3 October 2014 }}. ABC News, 3 October 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.</ref> The decision was subsequently reversed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-20/burka-segregation-is-not-the-best-says-mp/5825404|title=Burka segregation in Parliament reversed by Bishop|website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=19 October 2014|access-date=25 August 2016|archive-date=1 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161101042908/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-20/burka-segregation-is-not-the-best-says-mp/5825404|url-status=live}}</ref>

In August 2017, Senator [[Pauline Hanson]] arrived at the Senate wearing a burqa in protest, calling for the garment to be banned. Following the incident, [[ReachTEL]] polled 2,832 Australians and found that 56.3% supported banning the wearing of the burqa in public places.<ref>ReachTEL survey (23 August 2017) https://powr.s3.amazonaws.com/app_images%2Fresizable%2F8fb90f02-cdc2-4dcd-9d81-7d87d3a9487c%2FSkyNewsReachel24August2017.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824065527/https://powr.s3.amazonaws.com/app_images/resizable/8fb90f02-cdc2-4dcd-9d81-7d87d3a9487c/SkyNewsReachel24August2017.pdf |date=24 August 2017 }}</ref>