Excerpt:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has accused the opposition of walking both sides of the street after a Liberal senator suggested a ban on the wearing of burqas.
Outspoken senator Cory Bernardi has called for the banning of the Islamic covering after an armed robbery in a Sydney car park on Wednesday by a man wearing a burqa and sunglasses.
The head-to-toe covering was emerging as the preferred disguise of bandits and "n'er do wells", the South Australian senator wrote on his blog, adding it also prevented Muslim women from interacting in normal day-to-day life.
In response, Mr Rudd said no law enforcement agency had recommended to the government a ban on the burqa.