While the PM’s chief of staff Peta Credlin may agree with MP George Christensen and Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi on the idea of banning burkas for female visitors to Parliament House, Maria Vamvakinou, federal member for Calwell, has slammed the suggestions, saying they are “opportunistic and unhelpful”.

Ms Vamvakinou told Neos Kosmos that the calls came from individuals with “well-aired views on the wearing of the burka”, and those wishing to link the wearing of burkas to the parliament’s security arrangements should leave the matter to the parliament’s security officers.

“I am certain our security personnel would be able to manage identifying people, without needing to resort to banning a particular dress code,” said the Victorian MP.

“We can manage to verify a person’s identity in ways that do not require the burka’s outright banning. So leave it to the professionals to do their job.”

On Thursday Prime Minister Tony Abbott vetoed a plan to ban women who cover their faces from sitting in parliament’s main public galleries. The rule, approved by Speaker of the House Bronwyn Bishop and Senate President Stephen Parry, would have meant Muslim women wearing burkas or niqabs would have been segregated to a glass- enclosed area.

Ms Vamvakinou, whose electorate has the second largest Muslim population of any constituency in Australia, said parliamentarians should think twice before suggesting such draconian measures.

“At this time, it’s important that our contributions and the expression of our views should be guided by wisdom and professionalism.”

As tensions increased in recent days over Islamic State related terrorism, the MP said that she had received an increasing number of messages from members of the community – worried about the political and often physical backlash against them.

Their fears increased this week after a 26-year-old woman was racially abused and attacked at a railway station in Melbourne’s north.

“I’ve had a number of emails from constituents concerned about counter-terrorism legislation and it’s always about personal freedoms.

“I feel for the people in my electorate who are under the spotlight again, because of the actions of a few, and they’re being tainted by the same brush.”

Illustrating the plight of other Middle East diaspora, Ms Vamvakinou said that the conflict in Iraq and Syria had repercussions for many communities.

“In my electorate there are also Christian Iraqis who feel distressed by what’s been happening to their families in the Middle East, so these issues are in our neighbourhoods.

“We need to draw on all our experience as a multicultural society to manage this, and not allow ourselves to be distracted.”