"Can I place on record that I totally support all the actions taken by the NSW police during the APEC gathering," Mr Howard told Monday's ceremony to applause.This comment really shows just how out of touch Howard is now. In other words, scaring the shit out of people, intimidating them and provoking them is OK??? Forcing ten thousand people into an opening the size of a sidewalk - so they were forced to trample the flowerbeds of Hyde Park - is OK? And what if that figure had been over 20,000, as a judge was induced to believe? Would the overwhelmingly violent reaction of the ADF and NWS police have been fully supported by the PM? Of course it would!
"I think the commissioner has done a first class job.
"A decision was clearly taken - the right decision - that pre-emption and forward action was better than retaliation and, commissioner, it worked brilliantly, it really did."
Does Howard not still have one single advisor honest enough to tell him that the story of a Sydney North Shore dad tossed into prison for crossing the road the wrong way is a PR nightmare?
Howard insists the police were "preemptive", not "reactive" in their actions, and that's what really makes them "first class" supporters of the BushWorld status quo. Ah, yes - PRE-EMPTIVE!!! Now why isn't that a vote-winner, eh???
