AP Buries Lede in Australian Muslim Veil Story
A proposed “culturally insensitive” traffic law in New South Wales, Australia, could land Muslim women of good conscience in jail for a year, the Associated Press alerted readers in a July 10 story . Essentially the law requires motorists pulled over by police officers to show their faces so that officers can confirm their identity against a driver's license photo. Failure to do so could result in a fine and/or jail time. “A vigorous debate that the proposal has triggered reflects the cultural clashes being ignited by the growing influx of Muslim immigrants and the unease that visible symbols of Islam are causing in predominantly white Christian Australia since 1973 when the government relaxed its immigration policy,” the AP preached. But buried deeper in the article was an explanation of why the bill is being considered in the first place (emphasis mine): The New South Wales state Cabinet decided to create the law on July 4 in response to Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione's call for greater police powers. Other states including Victoria and Western Australia are considering similar legislation.
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on July 11, 2011. Filed under