Not living in Syndney and like nearly 100% of Australians not affected by APEC.

This APEC was an embarrasment to Australians as Howard and Costello showed how pathetic they are squabbling over how long Rudd was in a meeting with Bush (and what on earth could Bush be capable of saying that is worth listening to?) Parts of Sydney under what is effectively martial law , a further embarrasment to Australians as it is supposed to be a democracy where people are free and not some bannana republic where public land is off limits to the public and private land off limits to the owners. Australians do not benifit from APEC , the question is who does benifit and will they pay for it? Clearly not.

If we have visitors to this country which require the level of security we have witnessed then is it not a security risk to us? Who has the moral authority to put Australian lives at risk for something as so trivial? and ; Shouldnt they pay us for allowing them to come here? Who is to be blamed for inviting them here when funding is not reaching hospitals and schools and remote communities and even life saving medicines are withheld from the PBS on political and financial grounds.

Obviously the Chasers serve as a distraction from the mess that has been created. The laws should be to protect innocent citizens, what risk is the Chasers team to the Australian public? Obviously nil. Meanwhile hardened criminals walk free while court time and police time is wasted on such ridiculous antics.As Howard faces almost certain defeat at the next election he appears to be indulging as a big fish in a little pond , last party as it were before history writers unleash their cruelty in his twilight years.

As far as Chasers risking being shot by snipers , that is utterly stupid if the snipers are competent. If they are well trained then when are they going to shoot to disarm an unarmed person? The speculation is saying the police have no confidence in their own people. As sylvia said it would mean all APEC delegates would be at risk of being shot by police.

If the Chasers were at risk at being shot it is particularly bad publicity for anybody going to a major public event in Sydney. Authorities should have said "how silly" and left it at that , most of us would have had a laugh (except those with no sense of humour) and it would have been forgotten. As it is the whole APEC meeting has been a mess and so close to an election it would be better if APEC was forgotten and we move on....Unless... NSW wishes it to remain a festering embarrasment to Howards Government.

What does APEC really stand for?
Australians Puttingupwith Exceptional Crap?

I think their view was spot on. the surcurity was being power crazy and out of control in many of the publics view. one of the examples was the man bashed and aressted in front of his son whilst crossing a street, come on how stupid is that! crossing a road? a horrible crime?

It is good to see the Yemma labor government,following the tradition.
Australia is a penal colony,and the best way to keep the natives at bay is behind high fences.
Well Done Yemma, keep up the good work,keep the prisoners in line.
As for the Chasers team they only pointed out to the rest of the world, what a laughing stock our prison/police are.." Not much upstairs."

I think the heavily taxed-payers of this state should get at least, a laugh out of all of this.
Embarrasment? Far Beyond.