POLITICS IS NOT A SPORT

I have been saying this for a long time now ... POLITICS IS NOT A SPORT ...

Just because you believe one party or another represents your general political views, does not mean you follow them blindly regardless of their actions.

There is no loss of face if you challenge the decisions of the Party you support - they're not a sports team you follow blindly no matter what - their decision affect everyone in this country.

We live in a Democracy - which means we have the right to challenge political actions and the individuals we vote in to represent us.

IF THEY DO THE WRONG THING you don't sit back silently - you grow a pair and speak up!

There is NO LOSS OF FACE if you've the courage to challenge and disagree with the Party you voted in to Government ...

But you will lose your integrity if you sit idly by letting the people you voted for behave in a dictatorial, cruel and unethical manner. You become an accomplice to the vile things they do with your silence!!!

What is happening in Australia at the moment isn't about two sporting teams battling out on the field and each of us blindly supporting our sides ... this is our future, this is our National ethos that is being destroyed.

FOR GOODNESS SAKE don't sit idly by putting your ego ahead of humanity and decency!!! That's makes you a egotistical coward not a political savvy citizen of our Country.

Defending Tony Abbott ... never thought I'd see the day I do this !!!!

Goodness I am befuddled this morning, I have a doubt in my mind about Tony Abbott's real intention with his making note of the support we provided Indonesia after the horrific Tsunami's ...

I know he delivered the message in a manner that seemed to do injustice to what I think he may have been trying to articulate.

The more I consider his comments the more I come to believe that the point he was attempting to make wasn't that we were threatening to withdraw future support but our immense capacity to show Mercy to Indonesia through both our hands on response and actions and through financial aid.

Therefore he was trying to convey the message to the Indonesian President that in the situation facing those the Indonesian president intends to legally murder, he was simply asking they show the same degree of mercy that we did as a Nation for them when their people needed it so desperately.

Although a message best delivered by Julie Bishop MP

Any one else got a perspective on this issue? I'm not an Abbott fan in any way, but I'd hate to think the media were merely trying to discredit him for domestic political purposes by misrepresenting or skewing his remarks, when the lives of not only 2 young Australians but 9 others are in the balance?

I also keep thinking back to the first group that were legally murdered this year and shudder, not only for the fact they lost their lives, but for their families and friends who will undoubtedly suffer from some degree of PTSD as a result of the way in which their loved one died, and who will have that PTSD triggered every time the Death Penalty issue is raised in the media or discussed within earshot of them.

On a slightly different issue, I'm aghast at those who continually call for the Death Penalty in Australia for Paedophiles ... really? You want to kill a paedophile but not a drug trafficker? You believe in the sanctity of life but only when it suits you?

You can't have a position on the Death Penalty/Capital Punishment then decide to put riders in place!

No one, no matter how evil or destructive they are as a human being should EVER be killed.

Rather than indulging ourselves with more than what we need to survive we should be throwing resources at solutions to the problems human beings face, killing people doesn't stop us hurting each other - history is overflowing with examples of this fact.

In fact killing people is merely the lazy way out and actually demonstrates a lack of compassion and understanding of the bigger picture!

TIME FOR A ROYAL COMMISSION IN TO THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE

Many people are missing the point in relation to the barbaric situation that is facing Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukamaran  ...

the AFP did this to these young men, they did it AGAINST EVERYTHING WE (yes I'm a former Federal Agent) were taught to do. They would have paid for their crime in Australia, and they would have more than likely provided a wealth of Intelligence to the AFP and other Australian Law Enforcement Agencies in relation to the King Pins here in Australia and also overseas, although more likely Australia. We were taught to NEVER SHARE THIS INTELLIGENCE WITH ANY COUNTRY THAT HAS THE DEATH PENALTY FOR THESE OFFENCES.

In addition to this we were taught how to conduct 'controlled operations' and 'controlled deliveries' once the narcotics arrived in Australia. What is sickening me to the point of literally being haunted by this and unable to sleep, is the people did this DID the same Detective Training and Intelligence Training that I did, the people that DID this in the AFP were people I worked with and once called friends.

I am so ashamed of the behaviour of the AFP under the tyrannical reign of former Commissioner Keelty, I'm ashamed I was part of this organisation for almost a decade!

I deplored the Death Penalty before joining the AFP when I was 26 and I deplored it EVERY DAY of my career in Law Enforcement, I PAID ATTENTION to the training, and the reasons and the legislation and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Treaties that were based on Australia's Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters legislation.

If these young people had been able to either be intercepted prior to leaving, even with charges of Conspiracy to Import, that would have stopped them, the AFP carries on about there not being enough evidence for them to gain a conviction at that point, that wasn't for them to decide, the Court decides if the evidence exists AND if they had stopped them and charged them in Australia - then it is highly likely that they would have given enough information in their Records of Interview to either secure a conviction of Conspiracy to Import - OR - enough information to actually disrupt the 'king pins' both here and in Indonesia.

This case is an horrific example of the abuse of power by the AFP and the failure of the Australian Government to call the AFP to account for this and numerous other highly questionable, unethical investigations and actions over the years.

Every Federal Government has failed Australia, both Liberal & Labor, by NOT moving for a Royal Commission in to the AFP, the Harrison inquiry merely scratched the surface and allowed the AFP to clear the decks of those implicated and to silence those who may provide evidence of the remaining AFP members who were protected and stayed on in their roles and were promoted to senior AFP positions.

Time to call the AFP to account for this and many other atrocious failures, both deliberate and through incompetence!

Dismounting soap box and returning to begging G-d to stop this barbarism taking place.