Time to Stop Pussy-Footing Around

Monday, 2 December 2002

There's been a lot of umbrage at Prime Minister John Howard's statement that he would consider pre-emptive action to deal with a potential terrorist threat to Australia. Speaking on Channel Nine, Mr Howard said:

It stands to reason that if you believed that somebody was going to launch an attack against your country either of a conventional kind or a terrorist kind and you had a capacity to stop it and there was no alternative other than to use that capacity, then of course you would have to use it

Predictably, there's been a chorus of condemnation from a number of our so-called neighbours, saying that the PM should perhaps show a little more consideration for their national sovereignty and international law. Most of this stuff can be safely ignored: these states don't have our long experience with western style democracy and a lot of the governments making these statements are obviously a little behind hand in coming to terms with their responsibilities to their citizens. Maybe when Indonesian citizens are under threat, the Indonesian government might change their tune and see the benefits of having Kopassus ready to deal with the threat of terrorists based in other countries. Of course we will insist that they have the courtesy to at least inform us first, before they undertake anti-terrorist operations on Australian soil.

Our Foreign Minister clearly understands the nuances of the situation, commenting:

If people misinterpret what the Prime Minister has said well then you know they have to live with the consequences of their misinterpretation

So there's clearly no question of the Prime Minister's remarks being in any way intemperate. If the political leaders of other countries insist on wilfully misunderstanding his essentially moderate position, that's their problem, not ours.

I wasn't watching Channel 9 on Sunday as it happens - I had to go and help a friend out with some trouble he's been having with his next-door neighbour. Well, more precisely, his next-door neighbour's brother-in-law, who apparently goes round there every Sunday afternoon to drink himself into that belligerent state that some people seem to think is not merely a normal social state of drunkenness, but positively desirable. My friend has been convinced for weeks that this guy is a danger to him (my friend) and everyone else, but will the police deal with the problem? Of course not: as usual it's left to the ordinary citizen to deal with the potential criminal behaviour of the misfits in our society. Anyway, we gave the bugger a good dose of pre-emptive medicine and I don't think my friend will be having any more trouble from that quarter.