Hi (again) RUNNER...

A Prison Officer ? Well you'd know your way around Long Bay ? I'll bet you've met some boofheads in your time ? Wasn't 'Tony' VINCENT a Doctor or Professor or similar, and didn't he cause all manner of dislocation to the harmonious relationship between the Prison Officer staff and the government, a real 'crook lover' if I recall accurately ? Old Rex 'buckets' JACKSON, crooked as the day was long, still he wasn't a bad sort of bloke from memory.

I bet you could tell some stories with what you've seen in gaols over the years RUNNER ? A whole different perspective to what many people perceive what prison's actually like ? It would do a lot of good for some of these young and foolish wannabe's, to see what life's really like inside ! Perhaps then they might care to review their hitherto negative and pugnacious attitude they have towards the community as a whole. Do you think it would do any good ?

Hi there IS MISE & PAUL1405...

I'm inclined to agree with you both, it is quite alarming how this bloke managed to fly below the radar, given his record of violence and the number of serious offences he's allegedly occasioned against females ? I dunno, I despair somehow we never seem to learn ? We're led round by politicians with rings through our noses, told this and that, and in reality most stuff is patently erroneous.

His access to F/A's is another troubling feature in this equation ? All the while, some of our political masters, wish to further strengthen our F/A laws ? Why ? All that will achieve is to apply a further regulatory impost on completely honest, adequately licenced, legitimate F/A users ? It's not the licit market, it's the illicit market where all our resources should be directed, in order that we may effectively interdict these illegal F/A importers !

And when caught - long sentences, confiscate their property, place lien's over everything else they possess, in other words, knock the absolute stuffing out of them...financially ! In crime, without the 'wherewithal' financing any criminal enterprise is that much harder ! Apparently, it's the '1%' MCGs that have the lion's share of the illegal F/A's importation ?

PAUL1405...

Your comments apropos the conduct of police at that event was fair and balanced. No doubt, that frightening 'C' word will loom very large indeed, (Coroner) for those who needed to discharge their F/A's.

Months and months and months of worry, anxiety, self recrimination, more worry, yet still more worry will ensure ? It will get so even their family members will need to tread carefully around their moods lest a row erupts ? Even though in your own heart and mind, you did your job the best way you knew how ? And it'll all come down to the Coroner.

No academic, would ever experience such emotions !

How about ending the welfare handouts to anyone convicted of serious crimes and for anyone preaching hate (from any religion)?

Maybe if some of the petty criminals and extremists thought their dole was under threat, they would think twice before proceeding.

As complicated as it will be, deport those who have come from other countries and settled in Aus only to commit crimes and/or bag the country that helped them. One strike and your out. if the country they left doesn't want them or will treat them badly if they return - then don't stuff up while you are still welcome here.

Dear o sung wu,

< No academic, would ever experience such emotions !>?

My oldest son is an academic, a professor of anthropology. From the first sentence of the preface of his book: “Rainforest Exchanges”:

“I found the final inspiration for his study in November 1994 as bathtime found me crouching naked in the shallow river’s edge, while a thoroughly besotted man waved a pistol in my face.”

He faced great danger in gathering material in the Amazon rainforest. Two anthropologists investigating another tribe were killed when they broke a taboo they were not aware of.

You might think being an accountant is a safe profession. A cousin of mine is a bankruptcy accountant. His job is like that of a detective. When a corporation goes belly up he is sent in to find out what happened. He was sent to the Philippines to investigate the bankruptcy of a firm in which Marcos was involved. He found a pattern of rampart corruption. Marcos got a hold of his report and asked him to come up to his office. He was offered a bribe. Marcos wanted him to change the report. My cousin is a straight arrow and refused. “Marty, you don’t understand. This is the way we do things here. How about me sending someone to your hotel to discuss the matter with you?” Martin walked out of there and phoned his home office in LA. He was told to go straight to the airport and take the next plane out that he could get. He wound up in Hong Kong and went back to LA from there.

My next door neighbour is a plumber. He spends a couple weeks working in one of the government’s offshore detention centres alternating with a couple weeks home. The centres are dangerous places. A riot may break out at any time.

A policeman’s lot may not always be a happy one, but academics, accountants and plumbers can also find themselves in stressful situations.

O Sung Wu,
It is difficult to judge what could have been done from afar.

I am sure the police marksman could have taken the offender out with no trouble at that range, but they knew not what was in the back pack or how it was wired. At least in the early stages they did not know if the bloke was alone or not. I am sure a full jacket projectile would do the job after penetrating the glass window. A 100gn projectile, at 3000fps, would stop most humans. Plenty of rifles and calibers around to do that.

However the other considerations and unknowns make the decision difficult. I was not there so will not comment further but appreciate the considerations.

Hi DAVID F...

Anyone of us can find ourselves in dangerous and stressful situations, no matter what vocational pursuits we've undertaken. However I'm rather surprised you failed to grasp the substance or gravity of the point I was attempting to make ? Therefore any further comment I might make would probably not satisfy you ? All that I can respectfully say to you, I've held that opinion pretty well my entire working life, purely as a result of 'repeated' experiential or empirical evidence.

Anyway, I realise I'm (again) well off Topic, as initiated in the first instance, by PAUL1405. I understand the events that occurred on Monday last, ending early AM Tuesday, in Martin Place, has pretty well supplanted everything else worthy of discussion ? As I'm one of the worst offenders for wandering aimlessly off the discussion at hand, I'll now excuse myself.

Should another contributor choose to raise a specific Topic dealing with the Martin Place tragedy, well we'll see.

In closing DAVID F, I realise academics play an important part in our lives. I guess my argument with most...Very few of them seem able to confine or even recognise the boundaries of their allotted task ? Neither do many of them accept their own individual limitations or level of competency ?

They often seem to lose track of the aegis from where they receive their mandate and directions, a serious fundamental flaw. An example; A superior officer, receives accurate data and answers to a problem that; (a) doesn't exist; and (b) for which a solution had not been sought ? Because the researcher or academic felt it necessary, to go well beyond his specific instructions, resulting is a waste of time and resources ? The only question being, why ?