All good points re the boys getting together and being able to talk in relative security, but why couldn't it have been held in Canberra?
At Alice Springs or on Christmas Island?

There is no reason that it had to be held in Sydney with all the consequent expense, disruption etc.

I agree. The YouTubers don't need to come here to comment now, the block on the comments on the YouTube site was lifted. I have since heard that part of our tax payers Billion dollar costs for security here includes the Government editing and censoring Wikipedia, My Space and YouTube. Anything with "Apec" written on the web is vetted, stalled or blocked. My site was blocked from commentry for 2 days.

Finally, the Government must have realized that I pose no threat to them, I'm not provoking or encouraging any protests.

The intimate details of the Government intervening in every internet upload, blocking, censoring is something they used to do in the Soviet Union. Yet APEC is meant to affirm free trade and democracies in this region. By doing this, the Australian Government in taking freedom, makes a mockery of APEC which is supposed to be about free trade and promote democracy.

We don't need the protesters to tell the world that. The world can see the heavy handedness of the Australian Government. Yes, it should have been in Canberra and they should have an audit on how much money they have wasted on this.

saintfletcher, I've struggled to understand the scale of the precautions taken for APEC. On the surface it seems like a massive over-reaction and the cynic in me wonders just how, with no real serious threats that I know of, our governments got to fear us so much?

But, this security operation looks more and more like a WorkCover or Comcare project gone wild. If you've ever been thru this mill you'll know how an OH&S system can reach absurd levels of hazard CONTROL; where even the most trivial 'risk' demands disproportionate safety measures.

It's a shame that the security measures themselves seem to be breeding their own protests.

Sorry but has the last poster a short memory? remember Melbourne?
Or any meeting of world leaders this last ten years?
Those Ferrell's in masks putting out warnings they intend to act badly?
How would a cop know the mask hides a silly child not a terrorist?
Just a thought ,those complaining about overkill, what if a terrorist act took place and no police could be found?

But Belly, John Howard has said that this operation it not about terrorists, it is not a war on terrorists, it is a war on protesters. Sydney today has been intolerable and the CBD is a ghost town. The business are being strangled by fences and they have rent to pay. Senator Kerry Nettle is not even allowed to have a press conference. There is not freedom of speech even for Senators. This is a very serious breach of freedom on speech, at the cost of 330 million dollars. This is our tax payers money.
It is after 11pm and the black hawk helicopters still menace the sky like its a war zone, thumping past and flashing their lights in our windows. People can't take photos in the CBD. The Australian Government has also censored YouTube, Wikipedia and Myspace, over 5000 edits have been recorded.
As our freedom is snatched away, as Sydney businesses are strangled by fences, this is all for what? Democracy and Free Trade?
This is not for Australians, this is for big business. It should have been in Canberra, this is a sickening disgrace.

PAUL L said:

'Could someone please tell me why I shouldn't assume the current bunch of APEC protesters are just band wagon jumping, ratbag troublemakers who aren't even sure what it is they're protesting against.'

COMMENT.. well Paul...I'll let you know after I speak with some today (Melbourne) I'm heading to the demo at flinders street and will do 2 things.

1/ Display a 'Unity Australia' poster (which has a yellow triangle on green background with a large '1' in the middle and the words 'Race' 'Culture' on each sloping side, and 'NATION' at the bottom.

2/ Asking the students why they are there.

Just in case you have missed the background to that '1-nation/culture/race' thing.. in reality it is an 'anti-racism/anti-Multiculturalism' statement, which suggests that when all of us drop our 'racist' prejudices and see people as 'people' rather than 'people+ethnic tag' then.. we will tend to intermarry. This in turn will dilute the 'difference' and promote a more blended national ethnicity which ultimately will become a kind of fully blended race as the British are, with their component ethnicities of Celt/Viking/French/Angle/Saxon etc. and... today we speak of 'English' as though they are one race, yet they came from many races.

APEC is one of those junkets that world leaders enjoy.. I'm sure they do achieve a lot, but inevitably it is for the benefit of the powerful oligarchies who really run our national 'shows'.

Its like the Timber industry in Sarawak, sure the people gain employment as chainsawers, truck drivers, laborers etc..but the REAL money goes to the Chinese and Malay 'clubs' which extract and sell the timber.