Security proposals for religious places of worship.
I think we all recoiled in horror over an Australian going on a killing spree in Christchurch. We all acknowledge that gut feeling of transferred shame yet having no part in it.
The Scott Morrison somehow did the very thing that we should never do. That is 'Lock the gates and mistrust the world'.
When he stood there and pronounced $55 million for bollards and security cameras for religious places of worship in Australia I was dismayed. We can't wrap the world in cotton wool. The gun man walked through the doors in NZ and he was already on his own live TV. Nothing would have given the community a quicker response than the 36 minutes it took for the NZ police to apprehend the mentally deranged man.
This man chose a religion, some serial killers choose gays, some choose children, some choose women, one chose tourists visiting Port Arthur.
If CCTV cameras go up around places of worship we will immediately lose the sense of privacy in attending prayer. The government will know who and when people attend which place of worship. Are you sure this is what we want in exchange for curtainling to fear?
MICK you make some very valid points. People have to get their heads out of the sand and see and listen to the facts.
What happened in NZ is beyond sick and try as we might we may never be able to prevent similar atrocities occurring. As you so sensibly said there must be "discussion" between the Muslim community and the mainstream Australians. It does not help when clerics from the Muslim community use incentive language - it does not help when mainstream Australians also use incentive language.
The language used by the two groups is exactly what the extreme far right thugs need to egg them on. Hate speech from both sides is our real enemy.