Australian cleric and MP Fred Nile stepped up his campaign against Muslim women wearing religious dress, accusing them of being Islamic extremists and committed "fanatics".
Nile, who represents his own Christian Democrat Party in the New South Wales state parliament caused a furore Wednesday when he called on the state government to ban the wearing of the chador, the head-to-foot dress favoured by some devout Muslim women, in public places.
The Uniting Church minister said the chador can be used to conceal weapons and given the terrorist alert in Australia, they should be banned.
His comments, while condemned by some politicians and religious leaders appeared to strike a rich vein of sympathy in the wider community as talkback radio was deluged with calls of support.
The controversy followed reports of Muslim women wearing the hijab head scarf or the chador being abused and sometimes spat upon on the streets, particularly since the Bali bombing in which almost 90 Australians died on October 12.
As the storm raged around him, Nile defied his critics by refusing to recant and saying the chador was worn only by a small percentage of Muslim women and "normal" Muslims chose not to wear it.
Nile told commercial television here Friday only extremists wear the chador, saying they were being manipulated and used by Osama bin Laden in his terrorist movement.
He said he was not accusing them of being terrorists, but "they're an extremist in the Muslim religion, they're following it in their opinion to the ultimate level.
Muslim women who now feel vilified for wearing a chador in public need not wear it, he said. "That's the whole point, they don't have to wear it.
"I'm not trying to start a war with Muslims. I'm just saying that bin Laden is using a small percentage of fanatical Muslims and they're the ones that are wearing the chador," Nile said.
New South Wales premier Bob Carr said while he knew and respected Nile as a legislator, he should stay away from racial stereotyping.
Conservative Prime Minister John Howard refused to condemn Nile saying he understood what he was getting at, but would stop short of agreeing with him.
However, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the government was not about to ban any style of clothing, particularly when it was indicative of religious beliefs and customs.
United Muslim Women's Association President Maha Krayem Abdo said while the chador is compulsory in Islamic teachings, Australian Muslim women could choose whether they wanted to wear it.
But she said Nile's comment that only "normal" Muslim women didn't wear the chador was an affront to all women who valued the principles of freedom and feminism.
"I don't think he is in a position to dictate to Muslim women what, how and why they should wear," said Krayem Abdo. "I think he should do a lot more research about Islam and Muslim women."