Bronwyn Bishop has urged Australians to “fight for our culture” while announcing her support of a ban on headscarves in Australia following a controversial ruling made in Europe overnight.
“It’s an excellent ruling, an excellent ruling and I’d like to see a similar ruling here,” Ms Bishop told Sydney’s Macquarie Radio this afternoon.
The former politician and speaker in the House of Representatives was responding to a decision made in the European Court of Justice which may allow European companies to legally forbid employees from wearing Islamic headscarves and other visible religious symbols.
The court argued such a ban does not constitute “direct discrimination”.
“The word discriminate gets banded around a hell of a lot doesn’t it? But sometimes it’s a good thing to be discriminating and it’s a good thing to not tolerate the intolerable,” said Ms Bishop told radio host Ben Fordham.
The ruling in Europe was a response to two cases presented by a Belgian and a French woman who were both fired for refusing to remove their headscarves in the workplace.
Ms Bishop, who resigned from Parliament in 2015 after a travel expenses scandal, says such a ban should be adopted in Australia.
“I’ve said for a long time that young girls who are going to public schools in Australia should wear the school uniform and not a religious uniform,” Ms Bishop said.
She also referenced the controversy surrounding Punchbowl High in Sydney’s west, where alternative ways for pupils and female teachers to interact are being explored in response to religious beliefs that prevent males from shaking a woman’s hand.
“Somehow people are saying a solution to that is they can put their hand on their heart,” said Ms Bishop. “Well they can put their hand where they damn well like, but in this country, if a hand is put out by a woman, you take it. This is our culture and we have to fight for our culture.”
“When I hear the Department of Education start to say it’s okay for a boy to put his hand on his heart instead of taking a woman’s hand is totally unacceptable. Because the belief behind that is that women are unclean. It just is totally unacceptable. In this country men and women are equal and if we don’t, as women, stand up for that continually then we will lose that battle. I’m not prepared to lose it.”