Pubdate: Fri, 07 Jun 2002
Source: Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2002 News Limited
Contact:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/35
Author: Dennis Shanahan

CANBERRA WAKES UP TO A NEW TERROR

MONTHS before the arrival of the Tampa off Christmas Island crystallised 
public concern about illegal immigrants, both the Coalition and the Labor 
Party knew it was a simmering issue in the community.

When the opportunity arose to turn away a large, seaworthy vessel packed 
with illegal immigrants John Howard grabbed it.

Kim Beazley, without a considered, viable Labor position, endorsed the 
Government's actions in turning away boats and continuing Labor's policy of 
mandatory detention for illegal immigrants.

Those actions have been credited with winning the election for Howard. Of 
course, such thinking ignores the concessions in the previous Budget and 
the subsequent September 11 terror attacks, but nonetheless the public mood 
before Tampa was crucial in the formation of "border protection" and the 
election outcome.

Now, there is a new border protection - an otherwise relaxed and 
comfortable electorate has another simmering fear. The Labor Party, at all 
levels, and the Coalition know it is there and what it is.

The new border protection is crime. Property theft, home invasion, street 
crime, sexual assault, drug trade and gangs are making people, particularly 
the elderly, fearful of their personal safety.

In itself the fear of rising crime has been around since Cain slew Abel but 
there are new elements that are attracting the attention of both Howard and 
Simon Crean. Politicians are becoming more concerned with social values. 
Moral issues such as in-vitro fertilisation, embryonic stem cell research, 
euthanasia, welfare dependency, native title, reconciliation and rights for 
refugees are just some of the areas that are absorbing more of the national 
discourse at the expense of the economic agenda.

Our political leaders are responding to an increased sophistication in the 
electorate, which is looking for more than bookkeeping and Identikit 
politicians. The electorate is beginning to reward those who display 
courage and moral conviction, even if they do not agree with the position. 
Voters may not agree with where politicians stand but they do want to know 
where they stand.

Second, the electorate no longer believes dealing with crime is just a 
matter for the states. The federal Government is now expected to do not 
only what it can practically in its jurisdiction - customs and federal 
offences - but also provide leadership for the states in co-ordinating and 
co-operating in the fight against all crime.

NSW Labor Premier Bob Carr has been pushing the fight against crime and 
setting aside politically correct arguments about not mentioning gangs for 
some time. Two weeks ago his federal counterpart joined him.

Speaking to the NSW Labor conference, what Crean had to say about crime was 
overshadowed by what he had to say about crime and western Sydney. The 
federal Opposition Leader has pledged an ALP government to provide federal 
funds to put more police on the beat in western Sydney.

"Through commonwealth funding," he said we can "have more police and 
community policing resources to tackle specific problems like drug dealers, 
hand-guns and gang violence."

This is an extraordinary shift for a federal politician. Further, Crean 
suggested uniform national laws for dangerous knives and actually linked 
border protection with fighting crime.

"Stopping the illegal importation of hand-guns into Australia is another 
good reason for creating a proper coast guard," he said. Though 
concentrating on western Sydney while in NSW, Crean did not limit the 
application of more police on the beat to other areas "around the country".

Dealing with these community concerns has not been restricted to Labor. 
Education Minister Brendan Nelson combined concerns about crime with some 
"values politics" to criticise the Queensland Labor Government for allowing 
a children's book by a murderer and torturer to be put into state schools.

Nelson didn't object to the book per se but the by-product of promoting the 
murdering author as a role model in schools. He used the terms commonsense, 
right and wrong and values, amid catcalls from Labor, and has been accused 
of being a censorious wowser, but in the current climate is more likely to 
get a sympathetic hearing from parents.

Howard has also been working on the issue of crime and linked it, like 
Crean, with border protection and the war on terror. A seamless move from 
one simmering issue to the next.

The Prime Minister has devoted one of his regional television broadcasts to 
the tough-on-drugs strategy and delivered a long parliamentary answer on 
the issue.

Pointing to encouraging declines in heroin usage among young people and an 
increase in drug seizures, Howard said the figures "do give heart to 
parents who are worried sick about the threat of drugs to their children".

"We have a war against terrorism, and that is a war that is justly fought 
and justly prosecuted. I also believe we have a war against the scourge of 
illicit drugs," he said.

And just to give impetus to the war on drugs, Bronwyn Bishop - a former 
minister who has vowed not to pander to misleading crime statistics or 
political correctness about gangs - will chair a parliamentary inquiry into 
crime in Australia. This will be an inquiry open to "ordinary Australians" 
to talk about their experiences with crime and what the federal Government 
should be doing about it. Crime is on the national agenda.
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MAP posted-by: Beth