Fromthe SMH

Mr Howard (said):

"We are living in a new world and this idea that you can have absolute perfection in fighting terrorism, which is a global threat, is unrealistic," he said. "I would rather that be the case than somebody who is a real threat to this country slip through because we're not tough enough. It is always better to be safe than sorry."

I'm too angry to write at the moment - I've just been reading Kevin Andrew's farcical press release attempting to justify why he took away Haneef's visa.

If we live in John Howard's dream police state, we will have lost all the things that make a society worth living in.

But wait, what's this I see in the paper? "Delayed Notification" searches? Warrantless communication intercepts? We're already there.

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I wrote this a month ago. I've not posted it in case I changed my mind - but I haven't. If anything, things have only gotten worse - police in NSW now have powers to detain people, without charge, until APEC is over. There's a list of people who are banned from certain areas in Sydney - but the list is secret, as are the reasons the people are on the list.

I'm incredibly glad I'm out of state for the chaos of APEC. Hope it all goes well for people down there..