What a sorry set of ideas. Violence to be managed by... killing people. Nice.

A few points:
1) It is not wise to go unarmed in a society where others may without warning try to murder you. That is what our drug culture offers the heavy users, petty dealers and gang members, who are unprotected by the law as it stands.

2) The part of deterrence that works is not the severity of the sentence but the likelihood of getting caught and suffering some penalty.

3) Gang cultures go unchecked, leading to competing gangs fighting each other, because we are unable to police their violence effectively. To deter gang violence our society needs to be a more effective, acting altruistically and paying the cost to defend others lives and property. Part of that is the possibility of RETRIBUTION. Gang members will only respect a society that defends itself effectively, and in an honour culture that must include a threat level for payback against the gang's collective interests.

Proactive enforcement, intelligence gathering and serious targeted hampering have been the strategies of police against the rogue members of outlaw motorcycle gangs. This is not because they want to waste their lives harassing violent antisocial idiots, but to make sure that said idiots get the message that the state is serious about payback.

Similar heavy-handedness is needed against those who create the culture of violence with knives in our society - drug dealers and users, gang members and known criminals.

And ORDINARY PEOPLE are the ones in the threat zone. They need empowering - by technology tools such as cellphone functions for calling 'hue and cry' from nearby citizens, cellphone cameras to grab evidence and quickly get the police backing up citizens looking out for each other. One great model is the St John Ambulance Ready Responder system, and another is the Mines Rescue Squad system. Citizens can be more than victims.

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=street+crimes+increased+ethnic+lebanse&btnG=Google+Search&meta=cr%3DcountryAU

The above contains some fact and figures.
By the way I have personally a great deal of time for aboriginal people.
However sadly often aborigninal people want nothing to do with white people.
Anybody who has worked in this field knows these are the true facts.
We have to work very hard to gain their respect and trust.
Just as importantly - So do they.'

I have read all your comments and I dont think its reasonable to have to teach our neighoods to litterally defend themselves because of this high rise in crime.
The Government need to put the Army on the streets like they have in NT
Sort it out now.
keep the good people who respect Australia.
Ship out the others.
Forget goal it only teaches more crime as the crims mix together.
We should keep our neighboods safe from knives guns.
Its the RIGHT of every citizen to be able to walk the street in saftey without being knived.
I would encourage everybody to read the above links
Bye All.

PALE,

Are you seriously demanding the government call out the army to deal with knives?!?

First off, the army is in the NT not as a security force (they are not armed), they are there in a logistical capacity ONLY. Secondly, the only time the Army should be called out armed is in times of armed insurrection (ie a full on armed rebellion). Apart from that, it should like any weapon, be kept sheathed until absolutely necessary.

EasyTimes...I could see the potential benefit in decriminalizing pot. But I still believe harsh sentencing can benefit us as well. I'd never agree to the death penalty.

Knife attacks were the plague of American fifties, sixties and seventies. Remember the switch blades?. It's just a matter of time till we're dealing with more guns.

PALE ~ You're a moron. Racist pig. Get back to saving cows. You've got ZERO idea, and if you're the quality of Hansons support, thank christ that scrag won't make it past the hick bandwagon.

Good grief PALE. You actually agreed with Morgan's facetious comment? You just wrote off the last shreds of credibility you may have had. It's sad really, because I have sympathy for your chief cause of opposing live exports, but the many ploys you've used, including picking and choosing who 'qualify' as farmers as well as emotional rhetoric such as that old 'yabby' chestnut, have turned me off quite considerably. Do the cause a favour and help find them a new spokesperson.

Chrisper - I suspect this is the crux of where we differ - can you provide me examples where vigilante tactics have improved the overall situation of a given community that already has access to viable law enforcement?

I'm of the view that if there is a problem, and I'm not convinced it's nearly as pronounced as most people think is is, then you need to have a properly resourced police force that isn't hamstrung in its duties.

It seems to me that once you decide to arm the populace, you've simply given up on society. Instead of addressing what's causing the problem, you're treating the symptoms in a new way, which I'm quite sure will exacerbate the problem.

When I look around Australian society I certainly don't see the abject failure many seem determined to see - I certainly don't think it warrants arming the public. I for one, feel quite safe on the streets, (and yes, I know there's some dangerous areas out there, but come on, these are the exception not the norm).

Fixing knives with guns doesn't seem very logical to me.

"Knife attacks, what can be done?"
BUY A GUN!