Well, Britain decided to join the EU for economic reasons and abandon the Commonwealth, so it opened its doors to EU policy - open borders. Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

Australia is a self-governing nation. Its parliaments make all the decisions for its governance and international relations. We are unique in that we have chosen to have our Head of State reside of shore. Our Head of State just happens to wear another hat at the same time, but at least it is still a Head of State job. Having a Head of State coming from a long time tradition of leadership save us from the embarrassment of having self-serving politicians make the selection of a Head of State such a murky thing. Look at the USA. The position of Head of State is bought and, having been bought, loses its ability to unite the Nation. Once elected, the US President becomes an assassination target for the other side of politics. And don't forget. Our Head of State is not the King/Queen of England. Our Head of State is the King/Queen of Australia. Big point to be aware of. Is it so bad that we avail ourselves of a thousand years of governance which were the foetus of our way of running our society?

Geoff,
The great thing about our country is that we hold dear the preservation of personal liberty. Our Bail laws have been framed in such a way to ensure that no person is deprived of Freedom as a result of a completed crime until guilt has been proven in a Court. No part of the legal system can foresee the future to tell if a person will commit offences in the future. Our hope is that conditions placed on the person as part of the bail determination will prevent further crimes. In the case of this sociopath, he was convicted of a crime which did not involve actual violence. At that time, his background suggested that he was "all talk and no action". How was the legal system to know that following his conviction he would commit indecent assaults? What were the indicators back then that he would arm himself and take hostages?

We all benefit from our current bail laws. I can remember when I was in my early 20s and mixing with blokes who liked to have a drink on Friday nights. Before the night started we all contributed to a pot of $100 which was to be used to pay bail if one of us was arrested for drink driving. It was a case of over the limit + no money for bail = night in the cells. Do you want to go back to that?

OME