Keffiyeh banned in Victorian Parliament
This makes Victoria's Parliament one of the few in the world to ban MPs from wearing the Palestinian headscarf.
Victoria’s Parliament has banned the wearing of the Palestinian keffiyeh.
Four upper house Greens MPs, led by ex-leader Samantha Ratnam, walked into the chamber of the Legislative Council wearing keffiyehs on Wednesday morning after holding after holding a press conference wearing the Palestinian scarfes for Nakba Day.
Upper house president Shaun Leane and lower house speaker Maree Edwards subsequently ruled that it is a political statement and falls under Parliament’s ban on wearing political statements in the chamber.
This makes Victoria’s Parliament one of the few in the world to ban MPs from wearing the Palestinian headscarf.
Caulfield MP David Southwick said the keffiyeh is offensive and he welcomes it being banned from state Parliament.
“The Jewish community are feeling very, very unsafe at the moment. There’s no place for racial hate, none whatsoever,” he said.
Southwick called on the Greens to “grow up”.
Georgie Crozier, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, said, “There is no place for hate and division and the Victorian Liberals continue to stand with Israel and Victoria’s Jewish community.”
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