So Tony Abbott finds burkas confronting (The Australian, August 4). He could have added hoodies, baseball caps and fashion headscarves (which can also obscure the face), facial piercings, tattoos, death-metal t-shirts, low-slung pants, and so on; but presumably he doesn’t mention them because they do not provide him with a dog-whistle to religious intolerance.

Personally, I can’t stand Tony in Speedos, but we all have to look at things we don’t like or agree with in a democracy.