Irfan Yusuf has read the Anti-Terrorism Bill, and claims that the liberties of ‘ordinary’ Australians will be most affected by it, even though he says only groups connected with Islam or Muslims are deemed to be terrorists in Australia. That prevents most ordinary Australians from being shot. He also says that people who look the part will be at risk. A ‘strange’ name, even, will be enough.

He then adds a Eurasian-looking girl to his list, and another girl with an Arabic name. But, still no ‘ordinary’ people.

We have to assume – because IY and other opponents of the anti-terror legislation as it stands never say it – that ‘ordinary’ Australians are the majority – Anglomorphs, Europeans, people who look like the PM and his wife, but not Aborigines. IY and company are deliberately vague in their language, because there is absolutely no truth in their claim that ordinary Australians are at risk of being detained, shot or whatever action is contemplated against terror suspects. Their claims are totally dishonest, and this is why they can never tell us just how the liberties of most Australians will be affected when they are asked. Trying to frighten Australians in this way is a no-brainer.

With terrorists committing their acts in the name of the same deity worshipped by ordinary Muslims, common sense should tell those ordinary Muslims that some suspicion will fall on them: particularly, and perhaps only, on those who believe that they can live in a western secular society yet flaunt the very obvious differences of Islam in the way of dress and in-your-face worship.

With dress, women who insist on wearing headscarves and voluminous clothing will be mostly affected. We can say that Muslims are entitled to worship as they please and dress as they please. But, if they are not prepared to modify these things to fit the society and country where they live, there will always be the potential for discrimination.

So your saying it is ok to lock up people for no good reason or shoot them if they dont dress like us?

The fact of the matter is, these laws can be administered with so little oversight that it would be easy for these laws to be abused and used against the general population.

"He then adds a Eurasian-looking girl to his list, and another girl with an Arabic name. But, still no ‘ordinary’ people"

I think he meant ordinary as in outlook, life, habits, religion.

In many professions and areas of aust, "white" people are barely a majority. Given that, for myself I find it hard to equate "ordinary" with "white".

When people consider these new anti-terrorist laws, they need to remember that we are at war. In the last war, people supporting Adolf or Tojo weren't just prosecuted, they were interned. That's war. The fact that the current casualties of this war are not soldiers, but ordinary Australians, such as the ones from Newcastle who were killed and injured in Bali, means means that no state government dares oppose the new laws. The public wrath if they did so and this could be shown to have caused the death of ordinary Australians in a future attack would destroy them. Unfortunately people of similar origin to the terrorists will be inconvenienced by these laws. That is very regrettable, but that is war. Their best strategy is to express their loyalty to Australia and opposition to terrorism in every way they can, as they could be our best allies in the struggle against people who have perverted the principles of Islam.

Mr Yusuf appears to be in denial. But it is a fact that the recent victims of bombings, beheadings, gang rapes etc have met their horrors at the hands of muslims.
This whole beat up is a lot of bally hoo. The police have always had authority to shoot threatening thugs.
The days of the politically correct left is done. It was buried at Bali.

Irfan: I also am terrified at these new laws, but whose fault is it mate? We have moslems like you planting bombs to kill people because they are told it is their duty as a moslem to kill unbelievers.YES! and it is written in your bloody koran.
Or blowing themselves up and killing innocent totally unarmed, unprepared people who's only "crime" is that they are not moslem. The totally misguided naive and completely gutless twits kill because they have nothing here on earth. Yet they have been promised an X-rated paradise.
In the time before moslem extremists we NEVER needed such draconian laws here in Oz.
But most moslem countries have even worse and more constrictive laws eh! Irfan.
In this nation moslem have freedom yet they want to foul it up and turn this country into another dark, dismal, dreary, death loving, mysoginist arab/moslem country.
This is why we do not trust moslems, this is why we are planning these very dangerous laws. No other reason at all. numbat