There seems to be a global trend where leaders seem to care more for the right of immigrants and minorities than they do about they're own people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/15/in-athens-obama-warns-against-a-crude-sort-of-nationalism-or-tribalism-taking-root-in-the-u-s/

Our leaders are not our leaders.
They do the work of others and work against our best interests.
It's happening all over the world.

What do others think of this modern phenomenon?

//There seems to be a global trend where leaders seem to care more for the right of immigrants and minorities than they do about they're own people.//

What about the immigrants and minorities that are 'they're [sic] own people', AC? The Australian government governs for all Australian citizens, not just the ones you personally approve of.

We need to start directing the 'leaders' through the ballot box. The Americans with Trump have shown us the way. Australian politics is no longer a two horse race of self-serving tin pot dictators. Just do it. Vote for Hanson, ALA, or any independents who can show that they are not anti-democratic Leftist lickspittles to the UN as both Labor and the Coalition are. Most of our politicians should be charged with treason and crimes against the people.

I am sure you are about to see a radical change in the composition of upcoming governments.
If Labor and Liberals think that Pauline Hanson has forgotten or forgiven them for locking her
up in a filthy prison because she tried to then bring about change they had better start thinking again.
Immigrants,minorities,aboriginal welfare,greenies and social security bludgers all need to be
trimmed at the feet and the finances redirected to the grass roots of the country,the aged and infirm,
child safety services, returning service personnel,
public housing, homelessness,
The superannuation industry needs to be cut off at the pass and a single federal body control the
billions of dollar held in the greedy hands of fund managers and their financial advisers who suck
like vampires at a blood fest.
I could go on all night but I just get angrier.
I'm sure you all know what i am talking about.
Watch Hanson take at least 15 seats in the coming Qld election.

Chris not being a One Nation supporter, and unlikely to ever vote for them. Having said that, I also believe if you receive 15% of the vote, which One Nation could in Queensland you deserve 15% of the representation. With Queensland having no Upper House, this has to be in the singular parliament, a difficult thing to do given the preferential voting system favours the big two dinosaur parties. Even in seats where the vote for One Nation is higher than average, they would need almost a 50% primary vote to achieve victory. This is because the LNP and Labor would preference each other above One Nation. They could get up if voters went against the party HTV.
The alternative is three member electorates, then minor parties can gain representation.

To get back to the pitfalls of both globalisation and nationalism, both the US and the UN will have new leaders from early next year - the Right-wing republican (as he will be by then) Trump, and the left-wing Guterres. Will Trump, as the creature (by then) of the Republicans cut US funding of the UN ?

If so, the tide will quickly go out for the bureaucratic/intellectual classes in the US, the UN AND the EU. Watch Turnbull move away from internationalism and globalisation, and towards protectionism, nationalism and populism, and come down harder on the welfare alliance between bureaucrats and recipients.

Joe

Hey Toni,
Well yes, if you have a peice of paper that says you're Australian then you are one I guess, and the government has a responsibility to look after all it's people.

But there's a difference between being an Aussie by title an an Aussie at heart.

I think some people could be here less than a week and other Aussies might say "Yep, you're Aussie" and others could be here 30yrs and other Aussies would say "Not a chance..."

Personally I think the government cares more about the needs, wants and potential voting preferences of people who have been here less than a week than they do about people who were born, live and build their entire lives here.

[Got it right that time, 'their' my spelling and grammar isn't perfect as many will know, but it's probably a whole lot better than the majority of todays school-leavers]

I'm not specifically having a go at immigrants as much as I'm having a go at our sell-out leaders who do things in support of globalism.
Immigration is just one part of that.

When was the last time ANY western nation saw one of it's leaders on the end of a flagpole waving the nations flag?

- And it's not just the ones I personally approve of Toni;

It's the government who consistently pays little attention to a large segment of its own people.

//Personally I think the government cares more about the needs, wants and potential voting preferences of people who have been here less than a week than they do about people who were born, live and build their entire lives here.//

Political parties don't actually care about your needs or wants apart from how they influence your vote. These are not charitable, benevolent organisations: they're in it for the wealth and power.

The ABS informs me that 28% of our population were born overseas, which means 72% weren't. 72% is an absolute majority. Any political party courting the vote of 28% of the population in favour of the vote of 72% of the population is A) doing it wrong, B) bloody stupid, and C) doomed to failure.

//When was the last time ANY western nation saw one of it's leaders on the end of a flagpole//

Wikipedia informs that flagpole sitting died out as a hobby in the 1930's with the onset of the Great Depression. Presumably people were too busy looking for work to sit about at the top of a pole for weeks on end.

The religious practice of stylitism, a form of asceticism named after the 5th century St. Simeon Stylites who lived at the top of a pole for 47 years, is still being performed by a few religious nutjobs. An Eastern Orthodox Monk has spent the last 20 years on the top of a pole in Georgia. But I doubt there are any stylites in the parliament of any nation, for a number of obvious reasons.

Frankly, I expect my leaders to be doing something a bit more productive and useful than pole sitting or flag waving. We can easily outsource those jobs to unemployed young people. In fact, it would be a much better idea than assigning it to our politicians. It's unskilled labour, so it won't pay well, but healthy, attractive young people make for better flag wavers than grumpy old men.

The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does , and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility while the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to a war.

Sidney Harris

Steele, love that quote. So true. Nationalism is based on hate of others, and anything based on hate cannot be good.
I believe, having talked to lots of ordinary people over many years of political involvement, that the vast majority are neither, more likely they simply want to lives their lives, meeting their aspirations, and more concerned with their family and daily business than the nation.

Not necessarily, Paul: love for one's own country can easily go with admiration for other countries. For all sorts of reasons, I have great admiration for Tanzania although I've never been there. I love New Zealand, it's such a beautiful country and the people are so accepting wherever you go, and Canada and Vietnam too. We can differentiate between an admiration for a country, its people, ethos, landscapes, etc, and its government. But I love this country too and pretty much most of the people here, especially in the parts where I've lived. It's not either/or.

On the other hand, let's not forget that excessive love of one's group or region or country, especially if that 'love' has to be set against a corresponding distrust or dislike of another group or region or country, perhaps based on a false belief in the superiority of one's own - known as 'identity politics' - can be very destructive, and ultimately pointless, since no group is any better or worse than anybody else.

What worries me is the withering away of the old Marxist principle of internationalism, a recognition that people everywhere may have the same abilities and aspiration and rights, that no group should have superior rights over any other. Again that comes back to a suspicion about 'identity politics' and its essentialist and right-wing tendencies. But again, it's not either/or: we can have a deep love and yearning for our birth-country, or our adopted country, alongside a sense that all people are 'brothers' wherever they are.

Joe

Thanks Joe, I agree, that is in the background of people. I met a bloke from Iran last night at the club, I actually took him to be French or some other European. I said I haven't seen you for a while, said I've been back "home" for 3 months. But he has been in Australia for over 20 years, very Aussie in so many ways, said Iran is a great country, his mother and father along with other family members are there, so that what he misses most, parents are getting old and his father is not in the best of health.
p/s He was wearing a gold cross around his neck, I assume he is a Iranan Christian. Seemed very Australian to me,

SR,

I always find it troubling when people try and rewrite the dictionary.

Patriot:
a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.
"a true patriot"
synonyms: nationalist, loyalist;

Whereas a nationalist also:
a member of a political party or group advocating national independence or strong national government.

Re the reference to Iran as 'home' after 40 years in Australia.
When I was a kid, many Australians still referred to Britain as 'home' , even if they were 3 or 4th generation Australian, and passionate patriots especially during the cricket season.

"Immigrants,minorities,aboriginal welfare,greenies and social security bludgers all need to be trimmed at the feet and the finances redirected to the grass roots of the country,the aged and infirm, child safety services, returning service personnel,
public housing, homelessness."

Chris, the problem is that people don't fit into neat single boxes.

What to do about aged and infirm greenies who are returned service personnel? Do you help them because they are aged and infirm ex-soldiers or reject them because they are greenies?
Or Aborigines who are aged and infirm and/or returned soldiers, or need child safety services. In because they aged/infirm/ex-solders, or out because they're Aborigines.
And those social security bludgers - well, some of them are no doubt part of grass-roots too. (I'm not condoning such bludging, just think it is exaggerated to demonise people generally).

When does an immigrant stop being an immigrant? My father migrated here as a child with his family in 1927 (economic immigrants); he died a couple of years ago aged 97. In between he was in the Australian army in WW2 (New Guinea), ran several businesses, produced many children and grandchildren who include teachers, doctors and a resource geologist whom you will never have heard of but who has probably contributed more to this country than all of us writing on OLO put together, plus all the politicians over the last 50 years. Would you have trimmed my father and his parents at the feet when they first arrived in poverty? His family are now part the grass-roots of this country.

I think you had in mind trimming organisations that help minorities, immigrants. Aborigines etc. rather than individuals themselves who are in need. Yes, better direction of funds and accountability is essential. But the way you and others write demonises individuals and just contributes to division and hate, such as that exhibited on the bus yesterday.

Globalism: high immigration, multiculturalism, 'free' trade deals ruining job opportunities for unskilled Australian workers, was forced on us by dictatorial politicians without reference to the people. Hungary, late of the Soviet bloc, and now barely democratic, held a referendum on whether or not they should take refugees as demanded by the despots in Brussels. How pathetic does that make Australia, touted as one of the oldest democracies in the world? Only direct democracy will save Australia from the self-serving politicians and furtive power brokers.

"High immigration, multiculturalism, 'free' trade deals ruining job opportunities for unskilled Australian workers".

Perhaps if the unskilled Australian workers got some skills that would help them (a) get a job, and (b) create businesses that would employ other people? Ideally, the skills should be flexible and added to so they aren't stranded when the economy and industry evolves.

Re free trade deals: when it comes to our important food export markets, direct democracy might show that more people are in favour than against. This is an area where there is still unskilled work. But can fruit-growers get unskilled Australians to do it? No, we're dependent on back-packers. (There is an issue here because of the seasonality of the work, but that varies by crop and by region, so that work is staggered around the country).

In my region high immigration and multiculturalism have contributed to the economy through diversification: Italian migrants developing great varietal wines, Indian migrants value-adding to basic produce (http://www.grewalgoldengrain.com.au/) to name just a couple of examples. (Approximately 50 countries now buy Australian almonds, with India being Australia’s largest overseas market, twice the size of the next largest market, the United Arab Emirates. No, I'm not in the almond business, but have been interested since I first saw the mega-processing-actories in the back-blocks of NW Victoria years ago).

//high immigration, multiculturalism, 'free' trade deals ruining job opportunities for unskilled Australian workers, was forced on us//

'Were' forced on us, ttbn. Little wonder that some of the clever foreigners are more employable than the home-grown bums, when they speak English as a second language and still have a better handle on English grammar than some of the natives.

//by dictatorial politicians without reference to the people//

Dictators? In Australia? When?

For my entire life, Australia has been a democracy and politicians have been forced to make reference to the people every 3 to 4 years. Can anybody older than me remember a time when this was not the case?

Cossomby
You confuse the issue.
I am talking about the nett loss section of the population.
When I was a kid the worse thing in a fight between consenting adults was a "King Hit"
These people have brought with them knifes and guns, machetes and baseball bats.
They have brought their home grown radical violence with them. Forget their religions
just remember their violent natures.
Cut them off from welfare and let them starve.

Cut them off from welfare and let them starve? As if they are going to lie around starving to death. Cut them off from welfare and you just encourage more crime. Anyway, successful criminals don't need to waste time on a bit of welfare fiddling: peddling drugs, guns, etc. is much more profitable.
Two issues here.
1. There always has and will be a criminal element among both migrants and long settled Australians. Fraser has recently been blamed for Lebanese gangs; which PM shall we blame for the Italian criminals? Oh, Menzies - he let all those Italians in in the 1950s. What about the Irish gangs in the 19C - who let those Irish in (I bet most people posting here have some immigrant Irish ancestry)? In that case we exported some of them to the USA (google Sydney Ducks). Don't forget the first bunch, on the convict ships. In spite of this, immigration has built Australia because criminals and gangs were always a minor part.
2. We should remember what we learnt from that historic experience. First, scorn, hatred, marginalisation of each generation of migrants aggravates the problem. Faced with this, some migrants learn very quickly 'up yours!' and think well, if we can't join them, beat 'em. Second, and more important, we learnt very early, with the convicts, that criminals and their families don't inevitably remain criminals. Against all 19C beliefs that criminality was fixed and genetic, marked in the shape of your skull, we proved in Australia that is not the case, as the majority of convicts and their descendants became good citizens.
So we need to change the way we treat migrants. Give them education and training, make them feel they are welcome and valued, set up work programs if necessary (like the Snowy Scheme) - plenty of things we know from the past that work.
But don't make them starve and so turn to more crime. And stop demonising them. If you are a new arrival, keen to improve your life, but all you get is insults and scorn, what might you do?

Cossomby,

Yes. The majority might well agree with you, and that's democracy. But wouldn't you prefer to know what the majority thought, rather than leave everything to self-serving politicians who keep themselves aloof from the rest of us. And, surely you don't believe that our politicians are not beyond corruption because they speak English and look like us?

Immigrants are not doing anything that has not already been done by Australians.

Toni Lavis,

Sorry, but you are wrong again. If you knew anything about our language, you would know the colon after 'globalism' includes the following words. The 'was' refers to the singular word 'globalism. I majored in English, and was a dab hand at Latin, so don't try to teach me to suck eggs, sonny; it reveals you as goose. As far as non-English speaking foreigners go, you have clearly not had to read their written efforts, or even had to listen to them on the 'phone, doing a job no intelligent Australian wants to do. But, of course, that will not stop your self-loathing, anti-Australian rants.

For your "entire life"? And how many years is that, Toni? The GDR also claimed to be a democracy before the wall came down and it ceased to exist. You are obviously too disinterested in, or unable to, notice what has been happening to what was once our democracy, as our career politicians and the High Court have gradually undermined the relationship that once existed between the Australian people and their elected servants. We have a duoploly of self-serving careerists, with no idea of real life outside Canberra, told what to do by faceless power brokers and activist judges. Once elected, they do pretty much what they like, unfettered by accountability. All we can do is replace them with similar people every 3 or 4 years. You cannot seriously call that democracy.

"When I was a kid the worse thing in a fight between consenting adults was a "King Hit". These people have brought with them knifes and guns, machetes and baseball bats."

Chris, you clearly don’t know much about Australian criminal history! A quick newspaper search (pre-1960) on Sydney criminal gangs got over 30,000 hits. Here’s a 1946 example:

“Truth told last Sunday how three gunmen and two baccarat operators had been forced by police to abandon their illegal gambling activities in Melbourne, and how they had come to Sydney, to start a big game in premises in Bourke St. It is notorious that for years baccarat operators in Sydney have been able to carry on virtually un hampered. Not only have the scum controlling baccarat, and their hirelings — thugs, gunmen, stand -over men, and thieves — become affluent at the expense of the suckers, but the game has been responsible for murder. George ('Geordie') Morris was found dead in. his motor car in Hickson Rd., Millers Point in March, 1944. His body was riddled with 12 bullets. Miles ('The Face') McKeown also was found dead in his motor car on April 29, 1946. The car was in Rose St., Chippendale. McKeown had a bullet wound in the head. 'Muscling In' Thomas William ('Irish') Flaherty, Melbourne baccarat mobster and thief, was found dead in a vacant allotment in 1 Goulburn St., City, on August 1, 1946. Now, indications are that fugitives from Victoria are to muscle in on the lucrative Sydney racket. Violence and underworld vendettas are bound to follow. What happened in Melbourne must not be allowed to happen here. In Melbourne, the baccarat evil has bred violent feuds, shootings and murder.

I chose this one because of the fear of migrants - from Melbourne!

Now I'm not intending to downplay the seriousness of current crime, and the international aspects. I just don't think we should be demonising all migrants, or specific groups of migrants, on the grounds that this is somehow different from the past

Dear Shadow Minister,

Firstly Sidney was offering characterisations or observations rather than attempting dictionary definitions.

Further I always find it troubling that people go 'dictionary shopping' to make their argument. You went to Oxford for your patriot definition and Websters for nationalist.

Of course there are similarities between the two but they can not be conflated.

As expected they do share synonyms. Patriotism, according to Oxford, has two main branches headed by 'nationalism' and 'chauvinism'.
http://en.oxforddictionaries.com/thesaurus/patriotism

Nationalism on the other hand has three; 'patriotism', 'xenophobia', and most telling 'ethnocentrism'.
http://en.oxforddictionaries.com/thesaurus/nationalism

A stark point of difference one would have thought.

Cossomby,
The difference is that from the 1980's crime began to fall in Australia, then in the late 1990's it began to plummet, we thought the bad old days were behind us.
The new crime wave is all driven by immigrants and their children, the Chinese and Vietnamese are importing and manufacturing nearly all of the illegal drugs, the African gangs are controlled by Arab drug dealers and fences and paid in those drugs to steal cars and other valuables.
It's perfectly logical to blame the government and middle classes for their failures, of which the immigration programme is the most glaring example: people like you simply exchange the word immigration for the word immigrants, to make dissenters seem like "racists".

Jay of Melbourne, 30 odd years ago I spent nearly 3 weeks living amongst pilings and beams of the Fremantle wharf area. Rats the size of Scots Terriers chewing at my GP boots and cockroaches whose demeanour was fearsome, 4 of them could carry you away while you slept.

What was I doing there? Carrying out a small 'surveillance operation' to ensure that several 20' containers of drugs landed safely on Australian soil to disappear into the populace.

Who arranged it all? The government of the day. No one can tell me now, nor could they then, as to why this amount of illicit substances was let loose on us. All I know is that several weeks later, in Sydney and Melbourne many heroin addicts died as a result of a very "pure" batch landing on the streets.

No Jay, the real criminals are the ones in Armani suits, infesting the cabinet offices and corporate board rooms...not the dumb Triads, 5T's & ex Communist Bloc rejects, or even the Middle Eastern gangs...no these poor fools are just the patsies the government has set up via MSM & want us to hate, wanting us to direct our rage and indignation at.

The great social experiment being conducted at present where immigrants are not expected to assimilate, but to exercise their religious/political opinions and freedoms (read: non adherence to any laws of the country they reside in) under the UN, is well on its way to creating the division in society they wish to capitalise on.

Divide and conquer is what this is all about. The so called "nutters" sitting 50 metres up on top of a Jarrah tree are probably the only sane people left.

ttbn, correct - democracy hasn't existed in Australia since the 39th Battalion was ordered to Kokoda by MacArthur and the proxy government of the USA sailed into the Coral Sea.

"We first fought the heathens in the name of religion, then Communism, and now in the name of drugs and terrorism. Our excuses for global domination always change." (Serj Tankian).

Albie Manton in Darwin,
I remember your Fremantle import well, and the aftermath.
The same thing happens quite regularly here in Cairns.
Once they set up a false trail out in the middle of Australia where a small plane
crashed carrying a large amount of Heroin, not that anyone ever saw the drugs,
and all the while when the smarties were attending they brought in,
through Cairns, 5 ton of the big H pure.
the frog brought 3 ton in on a black converted minesweeper through Cairns.
Nobody searches anything here in Cairns.

ChrisG, I had long thought there must be others who had witnessed similar goings on as I did.

Steele, we had the "Fuhrer we had to have" in the form of John Winston Howard. Under his stewardship Australians saw more freedoms and common law rights eroded and taken away than in any other time in our history. Attorney General Phillip Ruddock being the primary architect of those since 9/11. Jingoism was at that time running at its highest level since WW1. We even saw the ancient offences of treason & 'crimen exceptum' brought to the fore. A New Age Inquisition afoot.

The War on Terror, the witch hunt for the enemies of democracy...the net result - we have bombed 'freedom' into Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Libya, Palestine and a few other places the Electronic Whorehouse chose to ignore along the way. Surgically precise missile strikes and drones delivering amputations, burnt flesh and ongoing agony for many innocent souls whose only crime was to be born and reside in the target area.

Returned servicemen & women committing suicide at an alarming rate, no debrief from the mission and left out to dry because their government doesn't give a toss. We spend $13 Million per day on US military equipment and technology but cant spend $1 to help former ADF members who served their country. I'm very certain this is going to bite us on the bum before much longer.

You can stick your nationalism, your patriotism...where the sun don't shine !

//The difference is that from the 1980's crime began to fall in Australia, then in the late 1990's it began to plummet, we thought the bad old days were behind us.//

The bad old days are behind you. The crime rate has been declining steadily for a long time now.

//The new crime wave//

New crime wave? What new crime wave? Stats or it didn't happen.

Sites such as the ones below hint at "problems" with accepting refugees:

http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2009/01/stop-muslim-immigration-to-united.html

http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp0001/01RP05

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-04/steketee-languishing-at-sea/6522340

Lets go back a bit before the War On Everything...

"Almost 20 years ago, Bill Clinton signed an act that has had considerable ramifications around the globe; the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Act, which effectively rendered the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 all but useless. The Posse Comitatus Act was created to limit the powers of the U.S. Federal Government in using its military personnel to act as domestic law enforcement personnel." (Ellery 2015)

Whilst the US president chose to abrogate his country's laws, a similar ongoing agenda has been carried out under the governments of Howard/Abbott & Co which has assisted in the facilitation of eroding our freedoms and hard fought for rights.

Fuhrer Abbott: "...regrettably, for some time to come, Australians will have to endure more security than we are used to..." Hansard (Sept 2014)

Fuhrer Howard: "...why the matters at stake go to the very credibility of the United Nations..." Hansard (2003)

The formation of Border Force with their distinctive black uniforms was no coincidence, for their powers are far reaching, almost approaching the powers of arrest and seizure of the various state Fisheries Officers, who are in themselves administering draconian legislation.

But back to the thread...globalism and nationalist ideals. Like recruits who have their flowing locks removed upon enlistment, we are all being reduced to a "common denominator value" with the end game of culling any debate, right of reply and the ultimate goal of having obedient sheeple who follow their leaders bidding, whether here in Australia or indeed any western nation.

Oh, stats and crime Toni. I know a police Superintendent who could tell you how the politicians fabricate or manipulate statistics. She would also tell you just how much crime, especially violent crime, has risen; African and Middle Eastern gangs being big contributors. Politicians actually lie about things they don't have the guts to change.

"30 odd years ago I spent nearly 3 weeks living amongst pilings and beams of the Fremantle wharf area. Carrying out a small 'surveillance operation' to ensure that several 20' containers of drugs landed safely on Australian soil to disappear into the populace."

Albie, this sounds like a great urban myth. If you want us to take it seriously, then provide the following:
1. Exact date.
2. Who employed you, in what capacity and for how long?
3. Who were you surveilling, and how was such surveillance enabling the safe landing of the alleged drugs?
3. Actual evidence that the containers held drugs.
4. Actual evidence that a government department was importing or facilitating drug imports.
Physical evidence please: employment records, documents, photographs, not just 'someone told me' or 'that had to the explanation because we couldn't think up anything else'.

Finally, if you genuinely believed you were employed to facilitate drugs to disappear into the community, why didn't you do something about it, then or later? Otherwise, you were colluding and were just as responsible for the imports as the drug dealers and 'government of the day' that you accuse.

Cossomby,
Either you live in a cocoon of social insulation or you actually believe your government is working for you.
You have obviously never heard of or been subject to the Official Secrets Act or you believe it to be another of those urban myths.
To you and your like the Oath of Allegiance (taken when serving under executive command)has about as much strength as a modern day marriage contract.
If Albie Manton in Darwin was to answer any one of your questions I am sure he would run slap bang into the arms of our "black hat" brigade.
Your format of questions gives your identity away because I came up against the exact same format in the Supreme Court recently.

Cheers Chris, but if Ms Cossomby the government stooge - read: 'wannabe' is actually serious about her challenge, she can write to my PO Box - that is Cossomby if you have the testicular fortitude. There's photos and more...and signed copies are available in the foyer along with monogrammed handcuffs for both of us.

Yes, like others on OLO, there are folks who have to resort to peeing on posts like so many other mongrels to feel important here.

Cossomby, BTW now you've possible Googled "Albie Manton in Darwin" and found out where I worked, some of what I do and where my loyalties are regarding government, the MSM, politics and such ? It's all there if you look hard enough and persevere sweetie. I hide behind nothing, certainly I won't let any harm come to you if we meet and Cossomby dearest, I'm more than happy to meet with you after establishing our (yours/mine) bona fides and that the agency you work for has approved the latte session with video surveillance etc. I'll remember to put my monkey mask back on. Is somewhere quiet in Smith St Mall OK for you ?

But really, I'm tired of all the cloak & dagger stuff, I'm tired with dealing with ASIS/ASIO/ and Dept of Defence dweebs who regularly trawl through my posts, stuff with my firewall settings and generally make my online pursuits difficult. Certainly I'm well & truly tired of having to "explain" myself to you - or anyone else for that matter.

For instances sake Cossomby, just try to call the US Embassy as I did in 2013 - when you have a real security concern about one of their establishments here on Australian soil. See how long it takes (if you can actually get through to them that is) and inform them that a door is insecure. Australian security staff involved were not able to even put on Gaffer tape to assist because of diplomatic issues, essentially leaving it able to be walked into...and you're worried about stuff that happened in 1983 ?