Binoy Kampmark wants a multicultural society where anybody who wants to come to Australia should be allowed to jump on a boat in Indonesia, and the Australian people should not object to that. But unless you live in a cave without a TV, it is screamingly obvious that multicultural societies are strife prone societies with high rates of racial tension, criminal behaviour, and terrorism.

And as Australia moves in the direction that Binoy advocates, and crime, social strife and terrorism offences increase, Binoy objects to the Australian government fighting against high crime and terrorism through the our security services.

Ya got to hand it to people like Binoy. They create a serious and endemic problem with their insistence that Australia must conform to their lofty and unworkable ideals, and when the problems predicted by their more sensible opponents manifest themselves, they complain about the Australian government taking steps to alleviate the problem that they created.

It just goes to show that you don't have to live in Afghanistan to live among people who think like the Taliban.

Agree Binoy. See also George Williams opinion piece in the Fairfax press: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/cutting-redtape-an-excuse-to-reject-unwelcome-advice-20140324-35e13.html

Disagree Binoy.

Professor George Williams provides a very convincing case for the creation and maintenance of Australian anti-terrorism laws in this short three minute video - http://youtu.be/f7DXUEYjRws .

Pete

Let's not be too hasty, plantagenet. William's video and written commentary are discordant to a certain extent. To get William's true feelings about the draconian nature of Australia's anti-terrorism laws, you'll have to dig deeper and read some of his academic papers. One I recommend is by McGarrity and Williams called "Counter-Terrorism Laws in a Nation without a Bill of Rights: The Australian Experience." It was presented at a conference at Hong Kong City University in 2005. A copy is freely available at the University's website http://www.cityu.edu.hk/slw/CityULR/doc/sample/02.1.03_McGarrity_and_Williams.pdf

Another good paper is "THE EXTRAORDINARY QUESTIONING AND DETENTION POWERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION," by
Burton, MCGarrity, and Williams. This one is in the Melbourne University Law Review, and can be found at http://www.mulr.com.au/issues/36_2/36_2_3.pdf

I won't prejudice you by further editorializing. Instead, why don't you have a read, and get back to me?

Hi JKUU

So much reading - so little time. Thanks for those references.

Pete

So here we have a probably still runny nose kid, referring to the ministers of the crown, in our properly elected government as Tony Abbott's "henchmen", & then actually expects to be taken seriously.

This from a person who "currently lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne". No wonder our higher education reputation is sinking faster than a stone in a duck pond.

Kid, if you want people to read past your second paragraph, try making those first paragraphs give some reason to expect something worth reading to follow.