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‘Look, I can’t let you in wearing that’
Parliament's unofficial keffiyeh ban
Alex McKinnon
February 05, 2025
In 2024, Jamie was working in Parliament House as a staff member for a politician.
In November last year, during a Parliamentary sitting week, Jamie went to observe Senate Question Time from the public gallery.
People wishing to enter either the Senate or House of Representatives public galleries have to pass through security, including an X-ray machine and screening by security guards before walking up a narrow walkway leading to the doors of the public gallery, at which another security guard is present.
Jamie passed through the X-ray machine and screening without incident, but was stopped when they reached the public gallery doors.
“A security guard stopped me and told me I wasn’t allowed to go in wearing the keffiyeh,” they said. “He wasn’t aggressive, but he just said ‘Look, I can’t let you in wearing that’.”
Jamie questioned if keffiyehs were banned from the public galleries — they were not aware of any rule regarding their display.
“I asked the security guard if this had always been a rule. I wasn't aware of any rules in place specifically about wearing keffiyehs and I hadn't been stopped anywhere else in Parliament House. He told me the rule had actually been changed very recently, like a week prior.”
Given the choice, Jamie decided not to go in.
“To be discriminated against on that basis is appalling. Parliament House is a public building, the House of Reps is where our government should be working to make our lives better and represent all people, not silence them while a genocide continues to happen.” they said.
“I don’t recall seeing a lot of other staff members walking around the halls wearing a keffiyeh. As you’re walking around the halls of Parliament, you do get a few sly looks and double-takes. You definitely get the sense that people don’t appreciate you wearing it when you’re waiting at the coffee cart or walking through the press gallery.”
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, who has been criticised by The Australian for wearing the keffiyeh in Parliament, said “the presiding officers of both houses should make it clear that people are welcome to wear whatever cultural attire they wish, rather than it being hidden in ambiguity”.
“I’ve been wearing a keffiyeh every week in parliament for the last year, so there’s obviously no rule against wearing one. It is a very troubling and dangerous precedent to set if people are being asked to remove cultural items like keffiyehs at the discretion of security,” Faruqi said. “The peoples’ house should make the public feel welcome, not turn them away for wearing a cultural symbol showing solidarity with Palestinians.”
“We need to remember that the keffiyeh is a symbol of Arab cultural heritage, worn by people across the Middle East. It is thus a powerful statement of solidarity with the Indigenous people of Palestine and Lebanon as they face an onslaught from Israel’s genocidal regime.
In May, the Victorian government ruled that the wearing of keffiyehs was “political” and thus not permitted on the floor of either house of state parliament.
Responding to questions, the Department of Parliamentary Services said they were “not aware” of any such incident and that “members of the public are free to enter the building and Senate Gallery wearing a keffiyeh”.
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