Saturday, July 09, 2005

Where's the Security?

Following on my previous entry, I'd like to express my utter concern for the security of Australia. Because of our 'close alliance' with the US, and continuing support on the 'war on terror', Australia is becoming more and more insecure. After 9 11, Bali, Madrid, and now London, it is not a matter of if, but more when. The heart of the political world was hit first. Then the prime holiday destination of the western world was hit. Now arguably the most prominent historic and modern city is hit. America, Asia, and Europe has been bombarded. It's obvious there's one more piece to this global 'puzzle' of terror.

Even after recognising this, the measures of security in Australia as compared to London or NY are considerably less. Hypothetically looking at Brisbane, there is barely any security on public transport. Brisbane is the second largest city in the world (not population wise, but some comparison i read), with a lot of public transport. But there is no security on most of them. When i first caught the train, i thought there would be a ticket guy or someone checking things. However, i was wrong. Anyone can walk in with a suspicious bag, without any type of check whatsoever. Buses don't have a way to determine if a bus has been hijacked until it misses a few stops or loops, and that will be too late. I heard that the bridges on the brisbane river are a prime target to cause maximum chaos. if they were knocked out somehow, brisbane would be in disarray.

I'm not saying that brisbane is going to be the next target, but i'm saying that, quite frankly, brisbane's security is crap, and so is every city except for maybe sydney.
In this hopeless world, we must be vigilant, and always on high alert. Also, we must remember that God is always in control. His plan cannot be fathomed, and cannot be stopped by mere mortals.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Australia will be targeted no doubt. Whether it becomes disaster or not depends on security intervention. Brisbane is not the world's 2nd largest city (actually it is incredibly small compared to many cities in the developed world). It is highly unlikely that brisbane will be targeted due to the low population density, hence likely target is probably sydney or melbourne. Canberra perhaps for political signifcance, but i doubt it. but the thing is, it's almost impossible to stop these even with security. Security cannot check every bag. They do that in airports (in US) and even with the relatively low number of passengers (compared to bus and train) airports in US have become impossibly inefficient. To employ such a security system in buses or trains would cause total mayhem.
Jeff

Anonymous said...

Brisbane is incredibly small compared to most cities of the world, "developed" or not. What happened to Dehli? Cairo? Rio?

I think the important measure is not on security, but crisis-handling. The way things were so well contained in London, the emergency response systems to cope with the fallout and public assurance when things do happen.

Besides, the details of an emergency threat response program would probably be best kept highly secret, otherwise the perpetrators will target the weak spots.

We just need to hope that there are such measures in place... we wont find out until it happens I suppose.

-pRoXi

Anonymous said...

Nah if you check the statistics somewhere brissy is the 2nd biggest city to LA in either area or something else. i am sure of it.

Jan said...

This article addresses the issues you have been talking about.

http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/site/articleIDs/C273E96D504779E3CA25703A001E3351?open&ui=dom&template=domBulletin