ARTICLE · 08 OCTOBER 2014

Burqa burqa, jihad burqa!

Marque Lawyers

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A burqa ban would be unconstitutional, as it explicitly prevents laws which prohibit the free exercise of any religion.

AustraliaGovernment, Public Sector

Michael Bradley

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Think you've seen someone wearing a burqa? In Australia? We bet you haven't.

Not convinced? Well, that's not surprising since most Australians don't actually know what a burqa is.

A burqa is a loose robe and face covering with a mesh grill over the eyes – usually it's light blue. Since they're pretty much only worn in Afghanistan, chances are that you haven't seen one in real life here.

For some reason, the word 'burqa' tends to be associated with any kind of face veil worn by Muslim women. What you might have seen is a person wearing a niqab (full-body robe with eyes exposed) or, more likely, a hijab (headscarf covering the hair, ears and neck)... both of which aren't burqas.

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