Youth parliament opposes burqa ban

The burqa has always been a contentious issue, but it seems
a general consensus has at last been reached – at least, by
Australian teenagers.

The YMCA NSW Youth Parliament recently debated the age old question of whether or not to ban the burqa, the full body and face garment worn by some Islamic women. This came in light of recent laws which give police, lawyers and Justice of the Peace the right to ask individuals to remove facial covering for identification purposes.

This law has been in effect since April 30.

It was a landslide victory for the side opposing an altogether ban of the religious attire. 18-year-old Geeth Geeganage was the main sponsor for this motion. “We are standing up for religious minorities who are getting persecuted, and condemning religious discrimination,” he said.

“One of the beautiful things about NSW is that young people get to grow up in a multicultural community. We may be a more tolerant generation because of this.

“The youth parliament has voted in an overwhelming majority against the ban and from this we may see a societal change.”

The motion passed by the Youth MPs during the debate has been presented to the NSW Government.

The main refuter was 16-year-old Sophie Lara-Watson. Based on the right to a freedom of speech, she claimed people should be allowed to make statements about banning the burqa, so long as it was done in a peaceful manner.

“People should be able to say what they like, no matter how unpopular, because we live in a democratic society,” she said. “For those who do [want to ban the burqa], we tried to show their argument is justified because of X, Y and Z.”

Mr Geeganage does not disagree that freedom of speech is needed. “We didn’t say that you can’t talk about these things. But, the thing about a democracy is that the majority holds the power.”

The Youth Parliament is now in its 11th year and consists of 110 young people, representing 92 of 93 state electorates. Of those, over 50 per cent of the Youth MPs voted against the ban.

President of NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy said the victory is a reflection of today’s diverse and tolerant society. “The win shows positive leadership for the future.

“We are a Western, democratic [and] a free nation. It would be different if we were all forced to wear a burqa, but as long as it is a free choice, everyone is entitled to wear what they choose.”