Speaker Bronwyn Bishop reverses decision to segregate women in burqas at Parliament House

Women wearing burqas will no longer be forced to sit behind glass in the public gallery at Parliament House in Canberra.

The Department of Parliamentary Services said in an email this morning that all visitors to Parliament House will be required to temporarily remove any coverings that prevent the recognition of facial features.

"This will enable DPS security staff to identify any person who may have been entering Parliament House or who may be known, or discovered, to be a security risk.

"Once this process has taken place, visitors are free to move about the public spaces of the building, including all chamber galleries, with facial coverings in place."

The new security arrangements reverse a decision announced on October 2 to seat people wearing coverings like burqas in glassed-off areas normally reserved for noisy school children.

That decision - made by Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Senate President Stephen Parry - came after a week of heated debate about the potential security risk posed by burqas.

But it provoked widespread outrage and prompted Prime Minister Tony Abbott to intervene.

The DPS says those security measures have now been "enhanced".

Labor MP Tony Burke called on Ms Bishop and Mr Parry to explain themselves over the "segregation" of Muslim women.

"The backdown today is welcome but the need to explain why we have been through this farce remains," he said.

Additional reporting by AAP