Thread: A sad day for Melbourne yesterday

I’m all for punishment for his conduct, or at least preventative detention to protect the rest of us.

I'm sure his punishment will be severe and well-deserved. Hopefully the judge will ignore those blindly demanding revenge and will sentence him impartially based on the law and justice.
He will no doubt be targeted in prison so he will be in solitary a lot of time, which will worsen his mental condition. Drugs are widely available in prison, so that won't help.
I hope he also gets the treatment he needs to get free of drugs and mentally healthy.
Hopefully one day he will be in a fit state to re-enter society, which is the aim of the prison system.

We are a civilised country so he should be given a fair trial and given a long sentence.......................................... .........if found guilty. ( I added that last bit to appease the civil libertarians among us). We should follow the American example and ban immigration from certain countries.........we can't go on like this, previous immigrants came out here, intergrated and help build this great country, not try to tear it apart as this latest lot have successfully done to the countries they have left behind. The attempts by people who are in authority and who should know better to sugar coat this incident and not call it for what it is (a terrorist attack) doesn't help at all. We have to come down hard and firm and stop this rubbish from occurring again. Immigrants from certain countries should be

Just a response to a few issues raised.

Terrorism is not restricted to Muslims. Israel used it extensively and their current leader and past ones are named as a terrorists. The French sinking the Rainbow Warrior another example. There are many.

The acts of many nations in bringing their freedoms to middle eastern counties is seen as terrorism by those people. Our own John Howard is also mentioned in circles as a war criminal as a result of this counties actions in an illegal war. Remember our actions in this illegal war resulted in the rise of these terrorist organisations we now talk about.

Our current actions in the Middle East are described as terrorism in those countries. It is all a matter of perspective I would suggest.

Perhaps if we stopped fighting these wars then there would not be as many people fleeing these countries and coming here.

Terrorism or its mention brings funding. I would suggest it is mentioned at any opportunity to get/keep/increase funding. I would suggest the acting Vic Police Commissioner is aware of this and phrased his media response accordingly. The politics of today. It is it’s own industry now. Where money is available business follows and that includes its reporting as well - unfortunately. Fear is a great persuading factor in this.

The increase in mental health related crime is not generally reported though it is far greater than it has been in the past. Mental Health & drugs are HUGE causative factors in crime and have a huge cost to society. We spend massive $ on terrorism and talk about it but spend no time having discussions on how legalising drugs is shown to reduce crime, violence etc, or on how we have cut the guts out of mental health support. Domestic Violence deaths are massive but little real focus or $$.

We rely very much on ethnicity rather than nationality in judging people. There are many Australians, multi-generational who are not white Anglo saxons. It seems that we use ethnicity to reduce the value of people - offensive really. I am never referred to as Welsh-Australian. A new white English or South African immigrant appears to have greater merit in some circles than a multi-generational Chinese-Australian simply because of how they look.

There are many white people who commit horrific crimes yet we rarely hear of calls to shoot them etc. Our emotive responses are out of balance. Yes punishment will occur but the rule of law is for all not just some.

Whilst I in no way condone these crimes I do stress that people make many incorrect judgements on incidents - fed on limited & incorrect information that they accept and reject based on their biases. In 30 years of policing I was continually amazed at being told by people what had happened at incidents that I had attended/investigated yet they were so so so wrong.

All the best and a Merry Christmas to all.

Originally Posted by Strop

Just a response to a few issues raised.

Terrorism is not restricted to Muslims. Israel used it extensively and their current leader and past ones are named as a terrorists. The French sinking the Rainbow Warrior another example. There are many.

The acts of many nations in bringing their freedoms to middle eastern counties is seen as terrorism by those people. Our own John Howard is also mentioned in circles as a war criminal as a result of this counties actions in an illegal war. Remember our actions in this illegal war resulted in the rise of these terrorist organisations we now talk about.

Our current actions in the Middle East are described as terrorism in those countries. It is all a matter of perspective I would suggest.

Perhaps if we stopped fighting these wars then there would not be as many people fleeing these countries and coming here.

Terrorism or its mention brings funding. I would suggest it is mentioned at any opportunity to get/keep/increase funding. I would suggest the acting Vic Police Commissioner is aware of this and phrased his media response accordingly. The politics of today. It is it’s own industry now. Where money is available business follows and that includes its reporting as well - unfortunately. Fear is a great persuading factor in this.

The increase in mental health related crime is not generally reported though it is far greater than it has been in the past. Mental Health & drugs are HUGE causative factors in crime and have a huge cost to society. We spend massive $ on terrorism and talk about it but spend no time having discussions on how legalising drugs is shown to reduce crime, violence etc, or on how we have cut the guts out of mental health support. Domestic Violence deaths are massive but little real focus or $$.

We rely very much on ethnicity rather than nationality in judging people. There are many Australians, multi-generational who are not white Anglo saxons. It seems that we use ethnicity to reduce the value of people - offensive really. I am never referred to as Welsh-Australian. A new white English or South African immigrant appears to have greater merit in some circles than a multi-generational Chinese-Australian simply because of how they look.

There are many white people who commit horrific crimes yet we rarely hear of calls to shoot them etc. Our emotive responses are out of balance. Yes punishment will occur but the rule of law is for all not just some.

Whilst I in no way condone these crimes I do stress that people make many incorrect judgements on incidents - fed on limited & incorrect information that they accept and reject based on their biases. In 30 years of policing I was continually amazed at being told by people what had happened at incidents that I had attended/investigated yet they were so so so wrong.

All the best and a Merry Christmas to all.

I strongly agree with your post.
Drug abuse, mental illnesses and domestic violence are huge problems and many times more serious than terrorism. Immigration is irrelevant. It makes no difference if a person comes from England, the USA, Spain, Afghanistan, Chile, Nigeria or Melbourne - what counts is how they think and act, not where they originated. Beating them up might make us feel tough, but it does nothing to solve the real problems. Our focus is all wrong, I think.

Yep, Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin, just to name a few could be named as terrorists because of the death and destruction that occurred in their regimes, so I agree we should not judge terrorism on a persons race, religion or ethnics. I also agree that we should not just follow the "worlds policemen" who have been involved in more wars than any other country into conflicts. We have a sad history of going all the way with Uncle Sam instead of looking at our own interests first. We have no business in the Middle East at all, but I stand by with what I have said in previous posts. Let it be said that the Middle East has been involved in conflict going back to the Crusades and it is a sad fact, that is the only life they know.

Our country is a long way from the worlds trouble spots and that is the way I want to keep it. America does not set a good example at all, look at the deaths there caused by firearms in the hands of nutters and by definition the person causing multiple deaths using a firearm could also be called a terrorist.

So in conclusion I am all for tightening immigration laws on ALL nationalities with particular focus on known trouble spots.

Originally Posted by Ausfree

Yep, Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin, just to name a few could be named as terrorists because of the death and destruction that occurred in their regimes, so I agree we should not judge terrorism on a persons race, religion or ethnics. I also agree that we should not just follow the "worlds policemen" who have been involved in more wars than any other country into conflicts. We have a sad history of going all the way with Uncle Sam instead of looking at our own interests first. We have no business in the Middle East at all, but I stand by with what I have said in previous posts. Let it be said that the Middle East has been involved in conflict going back to the Crusades and it is a sad fact, that is the only life they know.

Our country is a long way from the worlds trouble spots and that is the way I want to keep it. America does not set a good example at all, look at the deaths there caused by firearms in the hands of nutters and by definition the person causing multiple deaths using a firearm could also be called a terrorist.

So in conclusion I am all for tightening immigration laws on ALL nationalities with particular focus on known trouble spots.

luke skywalker could be labeled a terrorist too.

In case you missed it Luke skywalker is a fictional character. So what is your point