The Sydney City Council thought it was a good move to put concrete
bollards into Martin Place to stop terrorist truck attacks.
That is fine as far as it goes but the fire brigade insisted that
there had to be a gap between them to enable a fire engine to pass through.

Hmmm, does any one else see a problem there ?
No comment anywhere about that.

The obvious solution is to have at least one of the bollards able to be moved out of the way. I've seen folding bollards elsewhere in Australia, and overseas I've seen automatically retracting bollards.

One of the most effective barricades used, has been council water trucks, filled of course. Appear to be an effective and quick mobile solution when required for special events. The water is also useful afterwards. Unfortunate for council, they have had to bear the cost of labour, with no funds from state or federal. For some it is appreciate if the security costs, which often are substantial, should be passed on to the organizer of special events. What do others think?

Aiden, I have seen the retracting bollards also.
Folding bollards I have not seen. How do they work ?
Anything that could be moved by hand or pushing by truck would not be
much use. These concrete blocks need a large forklift to move them.
I presume that is why the holes are in them.
So a gap that is large enough for a fire engine to get through will
let anything a terrorist turns up in through the gap.

Yes Bazz. Australian politicians are "really that stupid".

Bazz,

They're hinged at the base, and padlocked. Once the padlock is removed, they can be folded down by hand.

The ones I've seen probably wouldn't be strong enough to actually stop a truck, but they'd certainly put a dent in it, slow it down a bit, and then noise of them being struck would provide a significant warning to pedestrians. And most importantly, they'd be a visual deterrent for anyone contemplating such an attack.

Hmm Aiden, or someone in a work truck & overalls and bolt cutters.
No one would take any notice.

I discovered many years ago that put on a pair of overalls and carry
a ladder and you can go anywhere.
Even go into ladies toilets and no one raises an eyebrow.
Just remembered:
Actually did that in my 20s to fix a fluorescent light.

Bazz, would it not have been easier to just put on a dress, and a wig, high heels, some lippie, and march on in

Good evening to you too BAZZ...

Add to the ladder, the overalls, belt resplendent with hand tools precariously worn around the tradies ample waist, as well as an orange coloured fluro vest, he can gain entry to anywhere?

Interestingly BAZZ I tried to reply to the sender's address; to acknowledge both receipt of that fascinating Site, and to thank the sender, but my Email was rejected, albeit I tried thrice?

I'd hate to be working in my former occupation, and still have a further 25 years or so to go, before retirement. Especially with this new, and far more deadlier menace, of Muslim extremism confronting police, in the next decade or so?

O Sung Wu, well that was all before fluo vests.
Strange rejection. Remove any links or do not use reply.

Hi o sung wu,

Don't tell me there was not a lot of violent criminals in your day, equal to anything a bunch of crazy Muslims can chuck up.
In my local area command, the bulk of crime is petty stuff, anti social behavior, alcohol and drug related crime, theft, assaults.

I don't want to down play the seriousness of gangs, and gang crime, organized criminals etc, but much of police time is taken up with the petty criminal, and still major crime is relatively rare, and impacts fewer people in their daily lives than does the petty stuff.

Are Our Polies Really that Stupid ? Yes we had one of the best examples of stupidity of a politician when the always amazing, always ditzy air head herself, Pauline Hanson, endangered others as she broke one aviation rule after another as she played like a silly school kid with a dangerous drone aircraft in Townsville Queensland yesterday. The Lovely Pauline can be heard to excitedly exclaim ""Oh golly, as long as I keep it under 400 foot I'm right," No Pauline, as usual you're wrong!

1. You must not fly recreational drones within 30 metres of people and buildings. FAILED!

2. You must not fly recreational drones over people. FAILED!

3. You must not fly recreational drones in controlled air space, within 5.5km of an airport. FAILED!

To get her childish pleasure Hanson is willing to endanger others, that is ordinary decent folk?

The penalty for such reckless action a $900 to $9,000 fine.Unfortunately it can't be more in this serious case.

All I can say is Pauline Hanson PLEASE EXPLAIN why you should not be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for your reckless behavior!

Of course to a Green Pauline playing with a drone, [or existing for that matter] is a much worse sin than having their stupidity force up electricity prices about 4 fold over recent years.

It's also worse than forcing gas prices through the roof, by getting the harvesting of the stuff banned in 2/3 states.

It is pretty obvious why Turnbull appeals to them, they are about equal when it comes to disgusting attitudes, & the damage they are inflecting on the average Ozzie.

Well Paul, oh well I wonder whose quadcopter it was ?
I did notice that the audio in particular did not seem amateur.
Did a TV station crew make the video then rush off to the Aviation inspectors ?

A friend told me that there is nowhere in Sydney where they can be
flown without having to get written permission because every hospital
has a helicopter pad or some other prohibition, not that I am
interested in flying one.

Bazz, I do believe the drone maybe owned by another drone named James Ashby, who also pulled an illegal stunt, recently flying a drone near parliament house in Canberra,

As I understand it, One Nation intends to bill the taxpayer for the drone, as a legitimate political expense. The intention is to tie Pauline upside down by her ankles to the underside of the drone, and with James at the controls buzz the Lakemba Mosque, at under 400 feet of course, whilst the Lovely Pauline bellows through a megaphone "MUSLIMS OUT!" If successful this will be repeated at various Mussy locations around Australia. Yesterday was only a test flight. Should be cheaper for the taxpayer than a light plane or a Bronny copter.

Maybe we could send them whale watching with Syph Hanson-Young at the taxpayer's expense, as SYH knows how to rort the system.

We could Shadow, we could! The Lovely Pauline would certainly get a birds eye view of the whales, while hanging upside down from a drone. For a bit of a dare she could buzz the whales and frighten any small children who might be on Sarah's boat. Is Sarah Hanson-Young in some way related to Pauline Hanson, do you think so.

Syph Hanson-Young and Pauline Hanson, two peas in a pod.

The whole thing is nonsense because its only going to be put their as a reminder and to drive fear into people so they will beg their govt to "save" them. Can you people not see this??

Why didn't Sarah Sea-Patrol use the HMAS Hammersley to locate those whales?

Whereupon she could have surrounded them herself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-tp2TkRgJ8

Nobody, just nobody out-stupids SHY.

The answer is not a clear yes or no. Firstly we must accept the fact that 'most' people are stupid. Then we start categorizing them. You will find there is no clear answer. What I think is worth mentioning, is that politicians are just people. I believe that to get voted into anything you first have to 'suck people in'. If you have a narcissistic superiority complex, added to that a belief that you are special, then you too can become a poly. Most of them, nah, pretty much all of them don't really care about you and me. They will say and do whatever will help their bottom line and or political standing. Some are in it for the power trip, most if not all are in it for the money as well. Oh, I don't mean the 'pocket money' they get paid, I mean the kick-backs, back-handers along the way. But most of all if your lucky enough to actually have a portfolio, well, lookout, you've hit the jack-pot. You might wonder why so many contracts are given off-shore. Well it is very hard to scrutinize any off-shore dealings.
Big money changes hands and in so many different ways. Remember Mr Joe Bjelky-Peterson (or however you spell it). Well he used a very novel way of getting kick-backs. The scam was, the successful contractor would malign him in the media. Mr Peterson would threaten court action for defamation, and surprise surprise, the next time you hear about it, 'They settled out of court for an undisclosed sum of money'. Not bad eh? You will find stories about practically every poly if you care to look or pay attention when they make announcements or press-release. Most importantly is their ability to make you 'feel' that they actually care about you and your problem. This is only to ensure that you will vote for them again next time.