Does Australia have terror alerts yet? Or do we call that extension of government wracking up the public fear level - Piers?

This is from the Sunday Telegraph;

The caption under the picture reads, "What if: A bomb blast at the Melbourne Cup would be a catastrophe." Piers also starts his article out with the same what-if. This is the "they hate us for our values" used to throw irrational fear at the public. If they blew up the Melbourne Cup, they must hate Australia! It must be true, Piers said so.

There will be a backlash for this permanent fear mongering by the media and government. Both institutions will end in failure. The media is already starting to be consumed by the technological capabilites of the internet - government will too. That will be a good thing.

I do not like the Australian Federal Police being a federal department. I consider it anti-federalist. The federal government should have to beg for resources from the states, it is one way to stop federal tyranny.

The AFP are being used to collapse more and more power to the centre of government, which is Canberra. It is also being used to take more and more responsibilities from the states. The Premiers are complicit, their modus-operandi has been to give in to any political issue that is tough on crime, or tough on terror. This is all contributing to Australia being a unitary governmental system with Canberra being the sole authority.

I do not have a problem with the Federal government having a policing command center, but it should be filled with State Police, not police on the federal payroll. This will mean that State government's will be dubious of giving Canberra too much power, and authority over their police, which will have the added positive outcome of restricting political, and police based tyranny from the federal government. State's will be quick to remove their forces from the federal government depending which way the political winds blow. This is a good thing.

The anti-terror laws are turning the AFP into a political instrument; one which can jump outside of the rule of law, and subject Australians and individuals to the arbitrary will of the AFP, ASIO and the Executive arm of federal government. This is not good.

The state's need a spine, and the federal government needs to be reined in. These anti-terror laws should be thrown out anyway - liberty is too important to trust to government. Terror is a civil disturbance, not a seditious one, nor one that requires subjecting us to the arbitrary will of Executive government. We have already seen with DIMIA what happens when a government can discriminate against individuals - it does so for its own political purposes and outcomes that increase government's power.

The anti-terror laws will be the same. We have a government crying chicken-little, but rubbing its hands in glee at the extra authority it is getting to subject us to its arbitrary will.