Bowman MP Andrew Laming has called Prime Minister Tony Abbott's "Team Australia" phrase a "two-word slogan" and labelled the burqa debate an "unhelpful response" to a "significant undercurrent of anti-Muslim sentiment" .
Andrew Laming says he has intervened in the debate because of a "need for a moderating voice" following comments made by some of his colleaguesover the burqa.
Liberal senator Cory Bernardi kickstarted the burqa debate by tweeting on the morning of major terror raids in Sydney and Brisbane last month: "Note burqa wearers in some of the houses raided this morning? This shroud of oppression and flag of fundamentalism is not right in Aust".
Mr Laming told Fairfax Media raising the burqa has been counterproductive for the government focussed on trying to keep the community safe.
"It's been an unhelpful response to what I think is a significant undercurrent of anti-Muslim sentiment and you'll see that in email campaigns that are waged against everything from the treatment of our live exports when they arrive in Islamic countries through to Halal certification," the member for Bowman said on Wednesday.
The backbencher said a large number of his colleagues share his views but those representing electorates with a strong Muslim presence fear they would simply be "extending" the story by commenting.
"Allowing these debates to ferment simply makes people feel alienated and gives other moderate [Muslims] another reason to feel that Australia is not a place where they feel welcome," he said.
And he homed in on the Prime Minister's favourite catchphrase "Team Australia", saying he preferred not to use what he described as a "two-word slogan".
"I prefer not to use the term 'Team Australia'," he told Fairfax Media.
"...Team Australia was a great way to win the America's Cup but I think we've got a more professional security approach now, a more sophisticated one than just a two-word slogan."
Mr Laming said Australia "can do better" than EU nations, which have banned the burqa because of what he described as their own failures to generate a multicultural and harmonious society.
"We live in a free and multicultural, successful and wealthy Australia where what you put on the morning you wear all day and not be told in particular parts of the country that you need to take them off."
