if the hat fits

I was stunned recently to hear objections by the Police that members of the Yuendumu had fled the violence there "in the midst of a police investigation".

WTF?

Since when to police have the right to tell you to stay in a location where you're personal safety is threatened?

In fact since when does anyone in Australia have the right to tell other Australians that they can't move from one town to another? I don't recall a state of martial law being imposed (in which case it would be the army making the calls, not the police).

The only viewpoint which this sort of statement can fit into is one where all of the indigenous people should be rounded up and kept on reservations.

So the police just expected them to stay where they are supposed to stay and remain in a place which is in the midst of a violent clash? Can anyone imagine the outrage if white people had been fleeing some sort of similar terror and the police had said the same things?

Clearly the old colonial ways are still at work.

I had better be careful what I say, as it seems that even a Magistrate can't buck this informal (and probably denied) system and not be punished for it.

The old colonialism seems to be alive and well in Australia

more gun madness

The government in Australia loves to ban things own things and restrict things. Despite having strong firearms laws we seem to classify things which are toys as firearms. And as if its not bad enough now, it seems in Queensland that even a kids toy will now carry a firearms ... read here



Particularly the bit: "Failure to license an imitation weapon will carry a maximum $4500 fine under the proposals and incorrect storage carries a penalty of $750."

Read more: here.

I'm starting to wonder if this is because so few Australians can actually discuss issues rationally that the Government can essentially do what it wants. Heck, next they'll sell off the railways ... but wait.... they are

guns and cops

Australia has after the late 1990's adopted one of the most strict gun control laws in the world. It has not however done much to restrict the access to guns among the criminal world. While many would argue that its a good thing to make guns illegal there are many who argue the other way and say that it strips people of the ability to defend themselves.

Irrespective of this it is clear that it lowers the level of comprehension of these things in the community. Perhaps this also allows the police to be able to get away with more because they're the only (non military) ones authorized to use them.

One of the regrettable outcomes of this is that the Police seem to have less training and less scrutiny on how to use their guns.

The recent tragic shooting by a police officer in a (clearly bungled) drug raid in Sydney is a case in point. Initial reports of this indicated that the police officer had been shot by a criminal. There was much vehemence and anger invoked by this including many calls for mandatory harsh sentences for anyone "killing a cop"

Ultimately it would seem that he was gunned down by one of his own.

It does not take much searching to find story after story in the newspapers of police shooting people whom are later described as being simply mentally ill.

Its strange that in England (until recently) and in many European and Scandinavian countries that Police using firearms was taken very seriously. Reports and public investigations surround the police using such force.

One view is that we've become infected with the USA mentality of TV cop shows depicting firefights with the bad guys (using automatic weapons and assault rifles) being "taken out" by the policeman with his Glok

right ... folks that's fiction

If we can't tolerate people having access to guns personally then we should not tolerate police using them without excellent and proper training.

To return to that article above, I agree; it is not the fault of the policeman who shot his mate that his mate is dead. It is the fault of a system which does not properly train their forces.

My heart goes out to the copper who shot his mate, he must feel like dirt. But its not entirely his fault as much as it is the system.

The Police force in Australia has to overcome his colonial heritage and start being appropriate to a modern society. I recommend they send their police to Finland or perhaps Sweden to see how things are done over in a non colonial world.

A Government that acts as an Autocrat not as Public Servants

Australia seems to continue to show its autocratic genetic stamp well after we have been independent. For example the ATO seems to be more and more harassing as time goes by. It seems to be acting more like stingy tax collectors from a medieval and prehistoric past where taxes were levied on the land as the autocrats spending got out of control. Looking around we see complexity in taxation to the point where even the well meaning can't be sure.

In a recent case I see a business pushed to the edge of oblivion over taxes which they paid in good faith. As the legal representative said at the end of the case:

Mr Robertson declined to comment yesterday. But lawyer Grace Collier, employed as a consultant by Pop Art, asked, "What if Colin had just coughed up the $700,000 instead of fighting the issue?

"How many other businesses have paid money when they perhaps shouldn't have. Anecdotal evidence indicates that a vast amount of inspectors are ex-union officials.

"How do we know that these people are not using their powers to simply choose the most expensive award, like it appears happened with Pop Art, to get the best result for complainants?

"All this comes back to the injustice of the situation," she said.

"If the Ombudsman can form an opinion to prosecute, why can they not form an opinion to tell employers what their obligations are?"

What hope do ordinary people have?

I guess you should ask Paul Hogan