http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/...is_all_this_terror_talk_just_a_political_con/
Dear God, spare us:
RAFAEL EPSTEIN (ABC presenter): Do you accept in any way the criticism that you’d rather be talking about this than a difficult budget?
GEORGE BRANDIS (Attorney-General): Well I wouldn’t rather be talking about this. I would rather that this not be happening.
UPDATE
Then there is the predictable conspiracy-mongering by Greg Barns, lawyer, columnist and former wanna-be candidate for the Liberals, Democrats and Wikileaks party:
UPDATE
Dennis Shanahan on the astonishing denialism and paranoia which has joined the mad Left to the lunatic Islamic fringe:
YESTERDAY’S anti-terrorism raids and Labor’s solid, bipartisan support for the security services and Australia’s commitment to Iraq have failed to dampen claims the Abbott government is “hyping up” terrorism fears to distract the public from its budget difficulties…
Attorney-General George Brandis [was] confronted on ABC radio with a listener’s claim that the government was using the terrorist plan as a distraction. ABC presenter Rafael Epstein asked: “Do you accept in any way the criticism that you’d rather be talking about this than a difficult budget?"…
Fundamentalist Sunni political group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has made headlines for extremist views and is campaigning for a global Islamic caliphate, said the timing of the counter-terrorism raids were “suspect"…
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek was taken aback on Wednesday when it was put to her on the ABC that the threat of genocide had passed in Iraq and the evolving commitment wasn’t necessary. Radio National’s Waleed Aly queried whether genocide was happening and suggested “the genocidal threat seems to have abated"…
Crikey political editor Bernard Keane posted a series of tweets querying the need for more security powers and responded to one post with: “And you’re seriously suggesting the government hasn’t been hyping national security?
“Its enthusiasm for the Iraq war — to distract from its domestic problems — is the reason why we are now less safe from terrorism.”
Wendy Bacon, a professorial fellow with the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism and contributor to Crikey, also said scepticism over the raids was “justified”. On Monday, Labor senators Kim Carr and Sue Lines accused the government of using terror fears to distract the public and on Tuesday West Australian Labor MP Melissa Parke expressed concern about so quickly escalating the involvement in Iraq.
