Government Watches Too Much Batman: All Vigilantes Welcome
July 8th 2008 22:09
It seems like every so often, we Australian’s get thirsty for a good old mob scene. Macquarie Fields. Redfern. Cronulla riots. In a scene out of the American Deep South of the 1950’s and 60’s, we all gather around a cause and rally for a good old fasioned lynching. This week, it seems we might get just that.
The name won’t be a foreign one for Queenslanders: Dennis Ferguson. Notoriously convicted pedophile and all around shady character. Last week, a judge found that Ferguson should be released from custody on the basis that there was no way on Earth he would be able to get a fair trial in the Sunshine State. And so he walked free. But, so it would seem, Ferguson had nowhere to go. So the State Government relocated him to the remote western Queensland town of Miles on the tax payers expense. Anything to get such a noxious creature away from mass civilisation. But, fairly enough, the people of Miles wouldn’t cop having a pedophile moved into the neighbourhood and so they got together as an organised movement and soon enough it looked as if they had been reading “Bitter Anti-Globalisation Protests For Dummies”. Armed with placards and vein-popping anger they ran Ferguson right out of town, and the State Government had no choice but to move him on again. This time to a property in the Logan area.
Here’s where the Bligh Government shows that it has logic to rival that of... well, the French. Big call, I know. But definately deserving. Because then the Queensland Police Minister, Judy Spence, fronted a media conference and described to the press the approximate location where Ferguson had been moved to. As we all know, giving the media a specific description like that has an effect somewhat similar to a beautiful woman walking into a pub full of drunk men: they will inevitably charge at it like a bull at a gate. And that they did, within the hour the media knew where he had moved to and were en route. And when the media knew, they made sure that the public did too. Different place, same result. If anything the gathering of Logan residents that gathered outside Ferguson’s property were even more enthusiastic in their aggression. One even waved around a noose like a mad Ku Klux Klan member without the bed sheet. Another was arrested for making threats against his life. The community is in chaos, and all because of one little man in one little house who is suddenly becoming more and more of a liability.
What it comes down to is a lack of political guts on the part of the Queensland State Government. In the eyes of the law, Ferguson is not a criminal. He has no charges outstanding, no warrants issued for his arrest. Yet it seems the media and the government have been working in conjunction to ensure he ‘gets whats coming to him’. They knew exactly what would happen by telling people where he was relocated. In doing so they created a stir of vigilantism that can only end badly. But just because the law doesn’t recognise that Ferguson may pose a danger to the community, is that cause to work around the law, throwing the cat amongst the pigeons and waiting for nature to take its course. If something was to happen to Ferguson, I doubt many people would cry a tear. But the vigilantees that do it won’t bear the burden. If anything, it will be the fault of the State Government and the media who, in giving them Ferguson’s location, might as well have loaded the gun.
If the Bligh Government has such an aversion to people like Ferguson, I completely support that. But at least have the political bravery to stand up and take a stand. Create, like the US, a public register so people can be made aware of sex offenders in their area. Hell, if Ferguson is going to be put under virtual house arrest anyway, you might as well have kept him in prison. If anything, some have speculated that might be the safer option.
Last night Police Minister Judy Spence and prominent child safety advocate Hetty Johnston attended a town hall meeting in the suburb of Carbrook to try and quell community fears about the safety of having Ferguson nearby. If anything, Johnston is possibly the most vocal and recognisable defender of childrens rights in the country, and in supporting Ferguson’s move to the Logan property adds alot of credibility to the government’s position.
But something tells me the man with the noose isn’t going to listen to Hetty Johnston.
The name won’t be a foreign one for Queenslanders: Dennis Ferguson. Notoriously convicted pedophile and all around shady character. Last week, a judge found that Ferguson should be released from custody on the basis that there was no way on Earth he would be able to get a fair trial in the Sunshine State. And so he walked free. But, so it would seem, Ferguson had nowhere to go. So the State Government relocated him to the remote western Queensland town of Miles on the tax payers expense. Anything to get such a noxious creature away from mass civilisation. But, fairly enough, the people of Miles wouldn’t cop having a pedophile moved into the neighbourhood and so they got together as an organised movement and soon enough it looked as if they had been reading “Bitter Anti-Globalisation Protests For Dummies”. Armed with placards and vein-popping anger they ran Ferguson right out of town, and the State Government had no choice but to move him on again. This time to a property in the Logan area.
Here’s where the Bligh Government shows that it has logic to rival that of... well, the French. Big call, I know. But definately deserving. Because then the Queensland Police Minister, Judy Spence, fronted a media conference and described to the press the approximate location where Ferguson had been moved to. As we all know, giving the media a specific description like that has an effect somewhat similar to a beautiful woman walking into a pub full of drunk men: they will inevitably charge at it like a bull at a gate. And that they did, within the hour the media knew where he had moved to and were en route. And when the media knew, they made sure that the public did too. Different place, same result. If anything the gathering of Logan residents that gathered outside Ferguson’s property were even more enthusiastic in their aggression. One even waved around a noose like a mad Ku Klux Klan member without the bed sheet. Another was arrested for making threats against his life. The community is in chaos, and all because of one little man in one little house who is suddenly becoming more and more of a liability.
What it comes down to is a lack of political guts on the part of the Queensland State Government. In the eyes of the law, Ferguson is not a criminal. He has no charges outstanding, no warrants issued for his arrest. Yet it seems the media and the government have been working in conjunction to ensure he ‘gets whats coming to him’. They knew exactly what would happen by telling people where he was relocated. In doing so they created a stir of vigilantism that can only end badly. But just because the law doesn’t recognise that Ferguson may pose a danger to the community, is that cause to work around the law, throwing the cat amongst the pigeons and waiting for nature to take its course. If something was to happen to Ferguson, I doubt many people would cry a tear. But the vigilantees that do it won’t bear the burden. If anything, it will be the fault of the State Government and the media who, in giving them Ferguson’s location, might as well have loaded the gun.
If the Bligh Government has such an aversion to people like Ferguson, I completely support that. But at least have the political bravery to stand up and take a stand. Create, like the US, a public register so people can be made aware of sex offenders in their area. Hell, if Ferguson is going to be put under virtual house arrest anyway, you might as well have kept him in prison. If anything, some have speculated that might be the safer option.
Last night Police Minister Judy Spence and prominent child safety advocate Hetty Johnston attended a town hall meeting in the suburb of Carbrook to try and quell community fears about the safety of having Ferguson nearby. If anything, Johnston is possibly the most vocal and recognisable defender of childrens rights in the country, and in supporting Ferguson’s move to the Logan property adds alot of credibility to the government’s position.
But something tells me the man with the noose isn’t going to listen to Hetty Johnston.
| 46 |
| Vote |
