Sikhs in New South Wales are demanding a religious exemption from state laws requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets.
Members of the Indian immigrant group claim forcing them to remove or adjust their turbans to wear motorcycle helmets is a violation of their faith, but medical and road safety experts told a parliamentary inquiry the laws should be maintained.
Mavleen Dhir, chairman and founder of Singhs Social Motorcycle Club Australia, told the inquiry on December 9 that there were already exemptions for turban-wearing Sikh bicycle riders in Victoria and Queensland, and that “extending the consideration” to NSW motorcyclists would “foster a more equitable legal framework”.
“This exemption is not merely a procedural request but a matter of safeguarding religious freedom, cultural identity and equality. For Sikhs, the turban is far more than headwear; it is a sacred article of faith deeply tied to our religious practice and personal identity,” he said.
“Wearing the turban, which covers uncut hair as required by the Sikh faith, is an essential expression of devotion and spirituality. Requiring its removal to wear a helmet conflicts directly with these tenets, forcing observant Sikhs to make an unacceptable choice between obeying the law and adhering to their faith.”
Bhupinder Singh, from motorcycle group the Sovereign Sikh Riders, said that he had been able to ride with his turban on in New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the US, but in Australia he feels “discriminated against”.
He also claimed that in the UK and Canada where there are turban exemptions there have been no related increases in fatalities, but was unable to provide supporting data to the committee.
But Michael Timms from the Australasian College of Road Safety told the inquiry the motorcycle deaths were trending upwards and that his organisation was therefore reluctant to support an exemption.
Dr Valeria Malka, Clinical Director at the NSW Institute of Trauma and Injury Management, said that while she understood the importance of turbans to Sikhs, she had “grave concerns” about giving helmet exemptions and what precedent that would set.
“To be honest, for clinicians like us, the idea of relaxing laws to allow people not to wear a helmet is horrifying,” she said.
Mr Timms and Dr Malka were joined by a number of other safety and medical experts, all of whom opposed the exemption.
In 2021 Sikh ceremonial daggers were banned in NSW schools after a stabbing in Sydney’s north-west, but months later was reversed and new guidelines were brought in to ensure the knives, called kirpans, could not be used as weapons.
The Supreme Court of Queensland last year overturned a government ban on carrying kirpans, finding that some sections of the knife ban legislation were inconsistent with rights to equality in the Racial Discrimination Act, which is Commonwealth law.
Header image: Sikhs pictured at the parliamentary inquiry (NSW Legislative Assembly)
