WTF? I go surfing in Cornwall for the weekend and come back to this:
“Melbournians are being urged to stand firm against terrorism after a new video warned the Victorian capital may be next on al-Qaeda’s hit list.”
news.com.au
But also…
“A videotape threatening terrorist attacks on Melbourne and Los Angeles could be an opportunistic stunt to coincide with the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, an al-Qaeda expert says.” news.com.au

The front page of the Age online reads like a primary school playground. Beazley is calling Costello a sook, and the Communications Minister tells Telstra heads to ‘stop whinging’.

We love you, Paul.
“All the people who dabble in race, whether it be the Hitlers at the hard end or the Hansons in Australia on the soft end, have one subject in common – citizenship. And these days, for citizenship read migration.
They seek to construct parochial and arbitrary distinctions between the civic and the human community. So some of us have a right to enjoy the sovereign benefits of security, sustenance and belonging while others are wayfarers and itinerants who are not entitled to inclusion with us.

Britain is a great state because it has always had solid values, and has been prepared to fight for them. How wrong it is for Michael Howard’s Conservative party to tread the slippery and sleazy track of race to ingratiate themselves with that proportion of the electorate always susceptible to this malignant appeal.

In 2001, Prime Minister John Howard ran a despicable election campaign against asylum seekers. The campaign was successful but Australia was weakened by it. Its moral compass now lacks the equilibrium it had and the underlying compassion has been compromised.”