Victoria’s parliament has become one of few in the world to ban MPs from wearing the keffiyeh, the scarf that has been linked to the struggle for a Palestinian state for decades.
The president of the upper house, Shaun Leane, and the lower house speaker, Maree Edwards, both ruled on Wednesday that the scarf was political, meaning it could not be worn in either chamber.
In the upper house, Leane asked four Greens MPs to take off the keffiyeh at the start of the sitting day.
“Could I please ask the members of the Greens to remove the scarves that they are wearing today and if they could put them in spots that are not visible to the chamber,” he said.
He later told Greens MP Samantha Ratnam that watermelon earrings, another symbol of Palestine resistance, could not be worn.
He said that unlike pins worn by MPs to mark events such as Anzac Day and the Cancer Council’s Daffodil Day, there was no “consensus” around the Palestinian symbols.
“If it is a cause we can all get behind or we reasonably think everybody can get behind, we should be relaxed about it,” Leane said.
“If it is symbolism – and I am not making a commentary on the symbolism – that you could reasonably expect the whole chamber is not behind, then I think it is a fair ruling to say that that should not be worn.”
He compared the ruling with a ban on wearing “Yes” pins during the Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum.
In the lower house, Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri had been wearing a keffiyeh in parliament for several months before Edwards last week told her to take it off after Liberal MP David Southwick, who is Jewish, complained.
The party’s leader, Ellen Sandell, sought an explicit ruling on the keffiyeh on Wednesday morning, to which Edwards replied: “Political paraphernalia and badges are not allowed in the house. My ruling stands.”
The speaker said further clarification could be sought from her office. Guardian Australia has contacted Edwards for comment.
Sandell, who was heckled by MPs as she sought the ruling, said the Greens wore the keffiyeh “in solidarity with the countless Palestinians under siege right now”.
“In the midst of a potential genocide, our government should be joining the millions of people around the world calling for a permanent ceasefire,” she said.
“Instead … the Victorian parliament becomes one of the only parliaments in the world to ban the wearing of the keffiyeh in the chamber.”
Southwick welcomed the ban, describing the scarf as “triggering”.
“It is being used by Hamas terrorists time and time again. It’s not a peace sign. It’s not something that anybody should be wearing in a parliament,” he said.
In Canada, Ontario’s provincial parliament recently loosened its ban on the keffiyeh. Politicians, staff and visitors are to enter the building while wearing the scarf before requiring them to take it off when inside the chamber.
