With the ruling classes shown to be fickle, contemptible and unreliable in fulfilling their obligations to society, much of this confirmed by the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files by the United States Department of Justice, politicians really ought to get their act together. If there are threats to their welfare, why not tell the public of such facts? Is it sufficient to merely say that a threat to the safety of a politician manifested only to then build a fortress and moat around it, imprisoned till careful, managed release?
On February 24, the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese supposedly had what was uniformly described by the press as a “security threat’. The media hacks were at first keen to spread the word that something had happened (a dark “security threat” menaced the leader), but nothing more. This threat was significant enough to warrant the PM being whisked away from The Lodge at around 6 pm to a “secure location” for several hours while police conducted a search. Given that the PM’s residence in Canberra is a highly secure location to begin with, this should have gotten tongues wagging. If not The Lodge, then where?
Some detail was eventually supplied: the evacuation had been made because of a bomb threat. Later the next day, an offering of crumbs was made: the bomb threat had been, according to the national broadcaster the ABC, “linked to performances in Australia by a classical Chinese dance and music group that is banned in China.” Coupled with the Chinese Falun Gong spiritual movement, the Shen Yun group had been falsely told in an email that nitro-glycerine explosives had been positioned around The Lodge and would be detonated if Shen Yun dared proceed. “If you insist on proceeding with the performance,” warned the threatening email, “then the Prime Minister’s Lodge will be blown to ruins and blood will flow like a river.” Had this been true, the incompetence of Australia’s security and police forces would have been confirmed beyond all doubt. Slips are known, and another would not be remarkable.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Federal Police was businesslike in revealing that police had responded to the incident at the due hour, conducted a search, and found nothing troublingly suspicious. “There is no current threat to the community or public safety. Further information will be provided at an appropriate time.”
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was given the task of saying little, something which she performed with hideous facility. What seemed to escape from her bare bone remarks made to the ABC was that the nature of the incident had been “extraordinary” and seemingly political. “We’ve seen in other countries there is political violence and threats against politicians, but here in Australia, we’re lucky to be able to get around and mix with the community and operate safely. But this is just another reminder that there are threats out there and where there are threats, the police will take them seriously.”
Gallagher also reiterated a theme that has turned members of the Albanese government into cooks minding a stew on the verge of boiling. “The Prime Minister has been saying it for months, but we need to take the temperature down.” Furthermore, how much better it would be “if people could disagree without issuing a death threat or threatening someone’s life at work”.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor was also skimpy with details, expressing his pleasure at the PM’s safety, and declaring that, “Threats against any parliamentarian are utterly abhorrent especially in a country built on expressing our differences through debate.”
Threats to politicians are not matters to be dismissed lightly. The AFP received 951 reports of threatening, harassing, nuisance and offensive communications to parliamentarians in the last financial year. Some 21 individuals have been charged since September by the AFP’s National Security Investigations (NSI) teams. But matters of degree are also important. Australia is a country virtually unblemished by extravagantly bloody political assassinations, though occasional attempts to blot the record have taken place. A proportionate appraisal of each threat and context is indispensable. The bomb threat as an absurd prank of niggling nastiness, and the bomb threat from an individual or entity with means, motive and opportunity are different things. The media stable, in amplifying threats that might otherwise be contained, create a false sense of insecurity that can only serve the needs of the national security state. Far from lowering the temperature, the dial is increased.
Australia’s Director-General of Security, Mike Burgess, exemplifies the point in saying that, “The aggrieved, the opportunistic and the cunning […] are ripping our social fabric.” The AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett adds to the sense of emergency by saying that “current and emerging groups […] are eroding our country’s social fabric by advocating hatred, fear and humiliation”. We are left taking the undetailed words of the press, spokespeople and politicians at face value in terms of how catastrophically effective such forces are.
Fostering trust, reticence and transparency should be encouraged, maturity treasured. This is too much to expect from governments that wallow in the murkiness of secrecy and the mist produced by disturbing whispers. This merely serves to give credence to opponents keen to run on a more populist ticket. A lesson could be learned from Canberra’s allies across the Pacific in one respect. In the United States, material on failed assassinations or threats to the political representatives is easier to come by. Details about blundering shooters, axe-wielding freaks and paranoid avengers are quick into circulation. But Australia was a country born in penal servitude and reared on astounding levels of bureaucratic and political secrecy that would make some authoritarian regimes envious. A security threat often remains just that, a threat to be exploited and drawn upon for current needs.
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This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.