Firstly to Mr P P:
I don’t intend to discuss DW any further, for the obvious reason that the site promotes religious intolerance. They should be attacking violence, terrorism and extremism, not muslims who promote harmony. I don’t retract any one of my conclusions and they are clear, obvious, and convincing. I was not born yesterday.

Secondly to David BOAZ:
You are unknowingly diminishing Christianity by promoting this litany of fears. Jesus faced the intolerance of his own people, the power of the Roman Empire and death itself – promoting peace and forgiveness ‘til his last breath. In light of Matthew 25:40, why be surprised to find Jesus in a former Al Qaeda doctor?

Finally to the reader of this thread:
You may have just read a series of posts trying to justify their various prejudices and bigotries against muslims. History keeps repeating, just the names change, eh?

In Australia, we strongly believe in individual responsibility and tolerance. We deplore murder, rape, threats, bullying and rioting. Terrorist and criminals will be held to account, given a fair trial and if guilty sent to gaol. One’s religion has nothing to do any of these points. That’s the Australian way and we are very good at keeping religion out of these things, so that guilty people get what they deserve.

Keep the Australian way foremost in your mind. It’s a fantastic country and hopefully other countries will adopt our example. Muslim migrants are here to adopt the Australian way, which means they can practice Islam and still everyone gets along. The troublemakers discover they are in a very “tiny minority.”

Really Dave!

I used to work for the NPWS. In the parks that the mossies would congregate most namely Georges River and Kurnell. If there was no one manning the gate or patrolling then among the mossies there'd be 100% non compliance. The anglos asians greeks etc would pay about 90-95% of the time. I would often sit and watch as mossie car after mossie car would drive up to the ticket machine stop and drive off. And they drove nicer cars than most. As for pension card abuse I won't even get started.

When I asked a leb mossie poster 'Zefstar' why this was so he shifted the responsiblity to me.

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=3972#24782

Quote
and what i say to you is if you enforced your duties towards these people who 'never paid', i think the problem would have gone away
Unquote

I enforced day in day out to no avail.

Response to Carnifex:

I spoke to a NPWS officer about the situation you described, excluding the bit about 100% non-compliance because that's just nonsense (if you couldn't obtain rego details, you wouldn't be in a position to determine religion.)

This is what I learnt: NPWS officers only occasionally go about enforcing permits. When they do they go in pairs, connected via two-way to other officers. The police are a phone call away, with direct numbers in the various booths. NPWS officers use common-sense in assessing a situation and there is no reason for an officer to be intimidated.

Officers can issue a notice to pay, which gives the vehicle owner two weeks to pay the $7 fee or a penalty results. If the officer believes the vehicle has offended before, they can directly issue a penalty notice. In either case the fine is $68 and processed like any other parking fine.

Put simply, the law applies evenly to everyone. If someone breaks the law there is a penalty. The penalty applies the same to everyone.

Notice the officer said something about "common sense", which one can guess means don't provoke a riot over a $7 fee. (I just tell it as it was told to me - I'm never afraid to do that.) Why is that the case?

Because of all the exaggerated fears expressed in this thread and elsewhere from all sides. For every action, there is a reaction. That reaction can be non-racist, even-handed and appropriate. If so, the law is respected and Australia strengthened.

OR it can be what I have sadly read in some posts above -- racist/bigoted, provocative, disproportionate. That's when a $7 fee can turn very, very ugly.

Zefstar was being soft on you. I cannot imagine why a NPWS officer is counting "mossies" or otherwise acting unprofessionally, perhaps contrary to the Racial Discrimination Act. You had a legal responsibility to carry out your NPWS duties without considering the religion of those not paying.

That is also the law. The law applies to evenly to everyone. The law applies to you too.

Something to consider...

Face up to Islam
Archbishop Bernardini

His Excellency Bernardini, Archbishop of Smyrna (Izmir) in Turkey, presented his experience of Islam to the Synod of bishops held at Rome in October of 1999. Here are some of his remarks, which appeared in L’Osservatore Romano of November 17, 1999.

I have been living in Turkey for the past 42 years, a country that is 99.9% Muslim, and I have been the Archbishop of Izmir – Asia Minor – for the past 16 years. The theme of my intervention is therefore obvious: the problem of Islam in Europe today and in the future. I thank Bishop Pelatre, who already spoke about this theme in this prestigious assembly, dispensing me therefore of a long examination and relative interpretations.

My intervention is to present a humble petition to the Holy Father above all. In order to be brief and clear, I will first make reference to three cases which, due to their provenance, I believe to be true: see next post

1 – During an official meeting on Islamic-Christian dialogue, an authoritative Muslim person, speaking to the Christians participating, at one point said very calmly and assuredly: “Thanks to your democratic laws we will invade you; thanks to our religious laws we will dominate you.”
This is to be believed because the “domination” has already begun with the “petro-dollars” used not to create work in the poor North African or Middle Eastern countries, but to build mosques and cultural centers in Christian countries with Islamic immigrants, including Rome, the center of Christianity. How can we fail to see in all this a clear programme of expansion and reconquest?

Taya when you are wrong – you are wrong, whatever your excuse for it…simple!

Redneck and others raise some serious considerations. This is not racism, it is reality for us and for those Islamics of ALL nationalities who do not wish to live with the terrorism and brutality of the ‘lunatic fringe’ who are creating more havoc around the world than any other group at present.

Many Islamics disapprove too, some are ambivalent and some afraid to speak out. When good ‘men’ do nothing, evil will prevail…learn the lessons of history.

The point made by redneck re: jail percentages in France can be translated around the world in varying degrees…can they all be innocent and misunderstood?

“Muslim migrants are here to adopt the Australian way, which means they can practice Islam and still everyone gets along. The troublemakers discover they are in a very “tiny minority.”” David Latimer

Sadly, David, that has been proven to be incorrect judging by the riots and statistical data here and world-wide.

Read carefully what Danna Vale and others have said, she was, in part offering a compliment to Islamics while then pointing out where their beliefs were not matched by their actions.

A fair go should mean truth ‘without fear or favour’…THAT is the Aussie way, not anything goes - just don’t upset the minorities.