Out of touch
Whilst last weeks events at Cronulla have now escalated into Cronulla and surrounding areas being a no-go area for any non anlgo-saxon, our Prime Minister doesn't believe that it's based on race. One couldn't be so out of touch with current events if they tried.
Its unfortunate and quite unsettling to see Australia, home to multiculturalism, degrade to gangs of people chasing man and woman with bottles and iron bars only because they differ in race to themselves. The initial events that sparked these events is of course unfortunate, but for it to come to what it is now is by no means just because of it.
Of course the real reason is that Australia always had this problem, and not just with migrants mind you. Before the migrants hit the beaches it was the "westies" - the people who lived out in Western Sydney - any non-local, migrant or "westie", simply wasn't welcome to their beach. There would have been name-calling, maybe a scuffle, but nothing like what we have seen in the last few days.
Unfortunately with emotions and adrenalin running high things will be much worse before they get any better, expect the "fight" to move to the western suburbs, the traditional home of migrants and westies, soon.
Update: shirewars.com is a weblog covering the riots - I'm not so sure if it's bi-partisan nor if it's a tool for rioters. The Shire is a common name used to refer to the area around Cronulla and Sutherland.
Update 2: Soon after I came across shirewars.com I started getting a "bandwidth exceeded" error - today I checked back and the owners have taken the site offline due to what they say is a general misunderstanding on what "service" they offered.