I have to admit that it stretches my ability to understand the reasons behind the attempt by certain LNP politicians this week to 'ban the burqa'. 

I don't wish to go into these but they have nothing to do with security or women's rights. It has to do with understanding others.

Let's start with the lack of understanding that sees our elected representatives try to ban something that they don't even know the name of. It is a naqib, not a burqa, which has a mesh visor and is usually blue and worn mainly in Afganistan.

Add to this that the general public understands little of the culturally sensitive procedures that airports and other sensitive locations have to identify the women wearing this attire (usually taken quietly aside to a separate space by a woman officer for visual identification), and we see our lack of understanding leading us down an awkward path.

On top of this, those seeking to ban the attire in Parliament decide in the nation's interest, to put the 'burqa' wearer behind a glass petition where children are placed when viewing Parliament. So now we put 'potential terrorists' as we deem them, with our children! Very little understanding of the consequences of our hasty actions here as well. I'm sure you are all feeling safer already!

A federal government that tries to use fear (based on our lack of understanding usually), treads a very narrow, dangerous path and in this instance exposes their methods as clumsy and foolish. Not the qualities we would like to see in our nation's leaders I'm sure.

Grown-ups try to understand the people and situations they find themselves in and apply thought to their ways of handling new and different ways and cultures. Sadly there are too many of us who cowardly attack (in all senses of the word), women who are bearing the brunt of our lack of understanding, as reports of niqab wearers being jostled, abused and harassed by bigoted fools circulate in the media. The perpetrators do our country no service at all.

Difficult as it is we need to resist the siren call of what seems to be a sensible reaction to unreasonable fear and consider the need to investigate, think and understand before we make fools of ourselves.

Philip Armour,

Yass.