EDITORIAL : THE AUSTRALIAN, AUSTRALIA

We must remain alive to ongoing al-Qa'ida threat

An illustration by Bill Leak. Source: The Australian

SOMEWHERE on the floor of the North Arabian Sea lies the body of al-Qa'ida founder Osama bin Laden.

We should be grateful for this not-so-small mercy. But we must also take a hard look at the implications of what has occurred and whether it has made us safer.

An excess of hand-wringing, self-loathing and self-analysis over the way the Americans, our allies in the war on terror, ended bin Laden's evil life has been the chief distraction of the week. The absurd moral equivalence that demands a lawyerly "due process' for a cynical, strategic terrorist leader who launched a horrific asymmetric war, deliberately designed to slaughter civilians, invites ridicule. Here was a man who sanctioned numerous attacks killing thousands of defenceless men, women and children for the express purpose of weakening our resolve. So when we show the resolve to track him down and bring his leadership to an end, anyway we can, it affirms our willingness to defend our freedoms. And it is a just outcome. 

It is surprising and disappointing that the White House has chosen not to release the images of bin Laden's corpse given US commitment to free speech. As gruesome as this would be, it would provide additional confirmation, closure and transparency. President Barack Obama's justification for not doing so is flimsy. Those who are offended by bin Laden's death will react, photographs or not. The central purpose of the war on terrorism is to protect freedom so that our decisions and policies are not dictated by threats or acts of violence.

The sobering revelations of this momentous week point to the ongoing threat of terrorism, including in our region. Already material seized from the Abbottabad compound has alluded to plots against US passenger trains as a sickening way to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11. We are reminded that bin Laden's ideological supporters will carry on in the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and in Western nations such as our own. Long-held concerns about Pakistan are now heightened as its tenuous political leadership, always just an incident away from chaos itself, seems incapable of exercising control over the military and security apparatus. Covert support is provided to the Taliban in Afghanistan, and we must assume, al-Qa'ida, not only in Pakistan's border regions but in its cities as well.

The discovery of bin Laden in Abbottabad places greater significance on the arrest of Bali bomber Umar Patek there earlier this year. We know other bombers met and trained with al-Qa'ida before their murderous Bali attacks. So news that Patek could have been seeking funding and/or guidance from the al-Qa'ida leadership for another attack in Indonesia is disturbing. It underscores the need for vigilance and ongoing determination in the battle against this insidious threat. The security co-operation between Australian and Indonesia, forged in the aftermath of Bali, has been pivotal to the successful prosecutions against al-Qa'ida's regional franchise, Jemaah Islamiah. Sadly, whatever comfort we take from bin Laden's death must be tempered by the realisation that al-Qa'ida and its affiliates are still active, even in our region. For these reasons, we end the week in a higher state of apprehension than we began it.

Flicking the switch to Doha

THE ABC's Lateline has done a good job this week examining the shortcomings that might have arisen from the Gillard government's contracting out of the management of detention centres to Serco.

In the same vein, taxpayers have the right to ask why their ABC contracted out one of the biggest news stories of the decade, the slaying of the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, by US forces. If it was unable to cross to its own bureaus or provide its own hosts in an Australian studio, coverage was available from independent British and American broadcasters. Instead, the ABC surrendered control of its airwaves to Middle East broadcaster Al-Jazeera, which is owned by the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. According to Britain's Index on Censorship, an organisation committed to promoting free speech, Qatar is so sensitive about censorship that in March it detained blogger and human rights activist Sultan al-Khalaifi for daring to criticise the country's censorship rules. All of which makes Qatar's national broadcaster a curious choice for outsourcing the initial coverage of such a major story by the ABC.

Taxpayers are entitled to ask why the provision of more than $1 billion in annual funding does not buy Australian coverage but an Al-Jazeera feed. 

Gillard's unspecified solution

IT'S too little too late but the Gillard government's decision to partially revive John Howard's so-called Pacific Solution seems rushed and incomplete.

We can only hope the formal announcement involves more than processing refugees in Papua New Guinea, because that alone is unlikely to solve the problem. Violence and arson at Australia's overcrowded detention centres and the arrival of about 10,000 boatpeople since Labor abandoned the Coalition's tough border protection policies in February 2008 have compelled Julia Gillard to act. She should have done so much sooner, long before the tragic drowning of as many as 50 people in a boat wreck off Christmas Island last December.

Offshore processing on its own will not stop the boats when people-smugglers and their desperate passengers know that the chances of asylum-seekers eventually ending up in Australia are good. The government's move, however, is at least a step in the right direction. It has chosen PNG rather than Nauru because PNG is a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees. And thankfully it signals the embarrassing end of the Prime Minister's fanciful notion of a regional processing centre in East Timor.

Within PNG, Manus Island, where the Howard government operated a processing centre, would be a good location. The local people are well disposed to the idea, welcoming the financial boost to the local economy it provided last time, including AusAID in the form of new classrooms. But if Labor is to have any hope of stemming the flow of boats, it cannot afford to stop at piecemeal measures, or ruthless people-smugglers will continue to perceive it as a "soft touch". The Howard government's effectiveness in stopping the boats involved occasionally turning them around before they reached their destination and the extensive use of temporary protection visas, which prevent asylum-seekers sponsoring relatives to come to Australia and which allow individuals to be repatriated if conditions improve.

Politically, the Gillard government's decision to send senior officials cap in hand for help to PNG is a humiliating backdown. After years of "collective denial" over the tide of boatpeople, the appeal to PNG is a tacit admission that weak policies have boosted the "pull" factors and encouraged desperate people to pay at least $10,000 to risk their lives on a treacherous journey rather than wait and hope to enter Australia through official channels. As a result of its own incompetence and procrastination, Labor is being forced to eat its words. In 2008, when the Rudd government abandoned the Pacific Solution, then-immigration minister Chris Evans labelled it a "cynical, costly and ultimately unsuccessful exercise." Last year, he said it was about "conning the Australian people and ... punishing those who sought our protection."

In another useful backflip, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has acted to ensure that any detainee who commits a crime in an immigration facility will receive only a temporary visa, even if he or she obtains refugee status. The law will be backdated to cover the fires at the Villawood detention centre. However apoplectic the Greens and the human rights lobby become about this more pragmatic approach, the government has no alternative if it is to stem an inhuman trade. Whether it can put the genie back in the bottle remains to be seen.