and from the wider community. Following a successful appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal by a Muslim lady, who believes it is a sin to be seen without a niqab, the policy of the Monash hospital is now for female doctors to attend to female patients, if requested. Several Melbourne councils have women-only sessions in their swimming pools. Monash Council has provided a curtain to ensure privacy for Muslim women. It has been reported that a "growing number of Muslim men [have] multiple wives"; the same story cited Islamic Friendship Association of Australia president Keysar Trad as stating that there were "not many more than 50" polygamist Muslim families in Australia. Centrelink has been paying spousal benefits to Islamic families with several wives, with Centrelink saying that the payment of spousal benefits for multiple wives is done to save taxpayers’ money, rather than paying single-parent-benefits for each wife. The AFIC has advocated Australian Muslims being able to marry and divorce under the principles of Sharia law, saying that Australian Muslims should enjoy "legal pluralism". There are Sharia law based mediation centres in Sydney and Melbourne. To expedite a religious divorce, Australian Muslim women often agree to sharia law principles which result in an unequal distribution of assets and rights. A Melbourne based, Muslim lawyer has said, "his clients, almost all female, say they have been disadvantaged by Sharia settlements." At a major Sydney mosque women are required to remain behind tinted glass on the second floor. The leader of the Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia, Samir Abu Hamza has told his followers that it is permissible to hit women as a, "last resort" but, "you are not allowed to bruise them . . . or to make them bleed". In response, he said that his message was taken out of context. In March 2016 the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal determined that separate male and female seating arrangements at public events hosted by Hizb ut-Tahrir contravened section 33 of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act. The Tribunal ordered that all future publicity materials for public events hosted by Hizb ut-Tahrir must clearly inform attendees that segregated seating arrangements are not compulsory. In May 2016 the United Muslims of Australia held a conference in Sydney where genders were separated by a fence. The president of the Australian National Imams Council, Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman has said that women