RMG
Good for you Ross.
I'm with you.
Thanks guys, moral support is crucial for this kind of thing.
Not all of these protestors would have been genuine. Some of them will be there at the directive of rebel leaders and are motivated purely to keep anything from "happening" to their relatives in Sri Lanka.
The rebel leadership is apt to put the scares on people who have relatives in western countries.
It's all organised, Steve. Sydney Tamils have their own website, and they're linked via Twitter and SMS. The crew I saw on Friday were your typical sheep protesters who blindly follow whatever directives they're told. It's the same mindless type, easily led and unable to think for themselves, who are attracted to demos the world over.
If I was in charge of govt - I'd require all mass demonstrations to acquire a license to protest and that would require the signatures of at least 1/4 of the political legislature who would then be require to act as guarantors for any damage caused to public or private property by the said demonstrators.
This form of public demonstration is getting really stupid - esp during conferences like the G20 when the protestors always go amok and caused millions of dollars of damage to public and private property.
This money could have been better spent of public housing, better schools, better roads, pre-school education, etc..
Its really a zero sum game but in today's post-modern society (esp. in the West) - govt and public expenditure is taken so much for granted.
I blame it on the baby boomer generation. 
Fraking hippies.
YMC, I've advocated the same thing, that demos should need a percentage of signed support from the local community where they're held. I raised it too at the Gay Marriage rally in Aug 07, where a few hundred queens and rent-a-mob blocked traffic throughout the Eastern Suburbs just so they could prance about for an hour.
The protest movement really is out of control, and what we need is a Police Commissioner who will do the job for which he's appointed, - upholding law and order, not enabling radicals to destroy it.
Bloody good idea Ross. I hope to it will become a reality one day.
Actually why can't we arrest the rioting demonstrators and lock them away for a week in solitary? Feed them bread and water?
Ross said: Now you're just going over the top. Trolling/mobying? Too angry for me.
No not trolling. But if the demonstrators are part of a group which is damaging public/private property - why can't they be arrested and held in detention for a week? If someone is stopping you from getting back home to your loved ones or worse, smashing your car, why should they be allowed to get away scotfree. Not only that, but due to ineffectual policing, be encouraged to repeat their offense?
Sorry about that YMC, I didn't realise you were tongue in cheek. Yes, police should step in and arrest, but I think gaol may be a bit harsh. Catch and release would be more effective. Take them down the clink for a few hours, then bail them to appear. The prospect of a record and traipsing to court would make illegal protests less appealing to the impressionable and easily-led. At the moment, there's literally nothing stopping them, especially not the police. Which makes a complete mockery of the law and the public's trust.
Actually no not tongue in cheek. I don't think your method would work Ross. Getting arrested and getting a few hours in cell would be like a merit badge to rioters. If they are all placed together - it'd be like an after-party. Heck, I might just join them too!! I'm a believer in longer sentences deterring crime. If the punishment is too light- it'd be laughed off. That's why crime in Australia is so fubar now.
OT but ... we have Justice Ministers like Robert Hull openly defending lighter sentencing claiming that longer sentences do not deter crime. Google Darren Robert Mickelo - who gets out of jail and murders his lovers each time. Or Anthony Rice - who got out of jail early because of his claim to some human rights lost - and then murdered an innocent woman. Or the killer rapist of Sofia Rodrigez-Urrutia-Shu who was not convicted of an earlier offence because the Govt felt the cops used harsh language. Worse we have Premiers like Steve Bracks arguing that the transfer and rehousing of the rapist William Watkins next door to the unsuspecting Irwin sisters was perfectly fine. I find it interesting that the news sites which reported Brack's reaction have now been removed.
It's a very slippery slope when governments start restricting protests. However I agree with your point that disinterested parties (i.e. the general public) shouldn't be disadvantaged.
I suspect protests aren't the problem, rather the people holding them.
There was a protest in Double Bay last week, against the proposed highrise building there. About 2000 people. It was as far as possible from a typical green-left protest of roughly the same numbers.
The right don't protest. Conservatives don't protest. Ordinary Australians don't protest. Probably because "protest" has become a dirty word, synonymous with smashing cops, breaking windows and burning things. So ordinary Aussies wouldn't dream of going to a rally. As a result, our Government walks all over us.
No, because we're too busy doing our 9 - 5 jobs - hauling our kids to school - doing a 2nd job to pay our mortgage - or underneath our cars attempting to change our oil.
The only reason our Govts walk all over us is because half of the voters are incompetent and vote for some moron ex-car salesman pitch.
We don't have good govt - so we get half-baked teachers like Steve Bracks, morons like Robert Hull, and chatterbox diplomats like Kevin Rudd as our leaders.
The smart bright people look at the hassles politicians and the dirty world of politics and the moron media and recognize that its not worth the candle.
Daniel, I disagree to the extent that protests should follow restrictions. Foremost, that law and order is respected, and that the public is in no way inconvenienced. Protest areas should be set up near Parliaments, and be left at that.
There exists an appropriate avenue for airing grievances already - it's called contacting your local member.
YMC, a commenter left a very telling point on my anti-Earth Hour post - that gullibility is just the innate docility of the herd. Humans like to be led, and so long as they're given safe parameters they're happy. It's the mass psychology that both dictators and marketers rely on. Only a few souls, like we here, don't settle for it and truly question it.
Hi Ross. Thanks for the friendly discussion. Just one note: I don't disagree with protest rallies esp. if they are organized and specifically targeted. What I find really sad is that thousands of people will show up for protests for say G20 forum - without any idea of what the group does or its aim. Yet, few people bother to show up when a protest is organized by victims of crime groups.
I found a very good speech about crime in Victoria in the Senate Hansard. Its here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/se...ys/
ds010908.pdf
Unfortunately its only one. 
gah
Well their protest had no effect on the situation in Sri Lanka because the Tigers have now been defeated and that rat prabhakaran is soon going to get his due.
>that rat prabhakaran is soon going to get his due
unfortunately, in this case both sides are as bad as each other
civil war, in its purist, and most (english pun) ironic, sense
Ross,
My local member is as useless as tits on a bull...
or, as read in that classic Australian Hansard moment, by a politician quoting a voter re another politician: "He's about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike"
Ross,
I wondered whether you had seen this article regarding what is euphemistically called "the Opposition" immigration spokesperson at http://awesternheart.blogspot.co...-want-
more.html .
I would also like to praise our amazing telepathic Immigration Department and its amazing Tamil translators who will so effectively weed out terrorists from the Refugees.
Commenting by HaloScan
