Betrays A Sad Reality About Australian Politics.

Footy, kangaroos, meat pies and shameless displays of racist fear mongering in an election year — ah, the quintessential Aussie experience.

Over the past week the Australian media has been losing it over a supposed gang crime wave orchestrated by “African youth”. The Herald Sun has been running front page story after front page story calling on the state Labor government to take stronger action against “out-of-control African teens” and The Age has called for a “whole of government response” to “African gangs”.

While the media has whipped itself, politicians on all sides, and no doubt a decent chunk of the public, up into a frenzy the Victorian Police have actually been begging everyone to stop using the term “gang” because it doesn’t accurately represent the nature of the problem, and could actually make things worse.

To get to the crux of what’s really going on here it’s important to understand two things. Firstly, Victoria is having a state election later this year, and secondly, if there’s one thing conservatives love doing in an election year it’s breaking the emergency glass and pushing the giant red button labelled “race”.

Before we get into the politics of the situation, it’s worth taking a sober look at the crime stats to see if we can figure out what everyone is getting worked up about.

Over in The Guardian, Calla Wahlquist has pointed out that the overall crime rate has dropped in Victoria in the past 12 months, as has the proportion of crimes being committed by people under the age of 25. So on first glance, there’s not much evidence to suggest any kind of youth gang crisis.

Sudanese Australians, who are the cohort the media is generally referring to when they talk about “Africans” in this context, make up about 1.5 percent of Victorian criminal offenders. While that technically means that community is overrepresented in crime figures (they make up 0.1 percent of the population), again the raw numbers don’t seem to align with the intense media and political response to the so-called crisis.

There are a bunch of factors that help explain the overrepresentation of Sudanese Australians in the criminal justice system, including poverty and a lack of job and education opportunities, but the number of offences being committed doesn’t explain all the attention the issue is receiving.

The current flare up is reminiscent of the Apex gang stories throughout 2016 and 2017. According to the media, in particular the Herald Sun, the alleged gang was made up of young Sudanese men and responsible for a raft of brawls, riots and petty crimes across Melbourne.

The Herald Sun continued to report on gang last year even though police said back in April the group was a “non-entity” and was never predominately made up of people with African backgrounds.

So we’ve got a pretty well-established pattern where sections of the media are willing to ignore crime stats as well as the police in order to construct a narrative about alleged migrant crime. All that’s missing are a few politicians willing to escalate racial tension in order to snare a few extra votes. Thankfully, since this is Australia, we didn’t have to wait long.

Back in the mid-1990s former Prime Minister John Howard was regularly accused of “dog whistling”. It’s a political metaphor used to describe policies and rhetoric that use coded language to tap into the anxieties and fears of a particular subset of voters. Howard deployed these kinds of tactics regularly, especially on issues of race and immigration.

The thing about dog whistling is that you aren’t supposed to say “I think black people are criminals and we should jail them all”. That kind of gives the game away. Instead you talk about stuff like the need for “strong borders to protect Australia’s integrity”. Sounds more reasonable, but you’re basically saying “bugger off, we’re full”.

On New Year’s Day the federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, said that “African gang crime” was “out of control” and blamed Premier Daniel Andrews. Now that’s less a dog whistle and like that enormous speaker from Back to the Future Marty blows up at the beginning of the film.

Sure enough, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull followed suit and similarly blamed the apparent rise in gang crime on the Victorian government. The federal government even threw its support behind the Victorian opposition’s plan for tougher sentencing laws, just in case you weren’t clear enough that this extremely obvious intervention was about damaging the state Labor government in an election year.

The insidious thing about this kind of craven political campaigning is that the details and facts don’t matter. The conservatives think that as soon as the topic shifts to law and order, as opposed to things like health and education policy, they win. When both sides start talking about getting “tough on crime”, the thinking is that voters will drift towards the Liberals, because they trust them to be “tougher” more than they trust Labor. The trick for Labor is try and avoid fighting on this confected law and order turf in the first place.

Over in The Guardian, Calla Wahlquist has pointed out that the overall crime rate has dropped in Victoria in the past 12 months, as has the proportion of crimes being committed by people under the age of 25. So on first glance, there’s not much evidence to suggest any kind of youth gang crisis.

We all know how the crime rate 'drops' in Victoria.



Consider now the brawls in the Sudanese community, or the young Somalis returning "home" for jihad.

The Howard government's last immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, did warn in 2007 of the violence among African refugees, only to be howled down by the usual screams of "racist!".

Worse, Victoria's then chief commissioner, Christine Nixon, rebuked him with a falsehood, claiming "Sudanese refugees are actually under-represented in the crime statistics".

In fact, her private data showed Sudanese were four times more likely to be charged with crimes. If you want anecdotal corroboration, here are news reports of crimes from around the country for just this month.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/opinion/keeping-appearances-on-immigration-ng-ea6377...

Who wants a healthy dose of 'inclusiveness' so that new arrivals feel they are part of the Australian community. Here's a nice slice of 'inclusiveness':

There is indeed a problem, as the winner of this year's bloodied

Miss South Sudan Australia

title, Nyakor Tut, admits: "Our leaders and young people are worried about punch-ons in our community, but we don't have the resources to deal with this." ** from the same article above.

Are we to presume that the Miss South Sudan Australia is open to all? And these people scream 'racism' at every opportunity.

Want more 'inclusiveness'? Cop this:



Police and Afghan Youth Camp

Police and African Youth Project

Women’s Only Swimming

Burmese Refugee (Karen/Chin) Police Information Sessions

Etc.

http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rip/1-10/18.html

Women’s Only Swimming...that's sure to achieve 'inclusiveness'.

So many programs to highlight how our immigration program is a failure and with so many programs in operation how does that achieve 'inclusiveness'? Want to know how come the health or education budgets have been snipped? You can see where the money has gone.

What obsession..African gangs are running amok in Victoria

People are scared to go out of their  own homes

What obsession?

red baron wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 7:54am:




We are scared to live in our own homes -

home invasions are still happening.

How do you deal with 6 or more armed Africans inside your home?

Bobby. wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 8:39am:


A high capacity magazine?

Gordon wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 10:05am:



One of these would be handy but they're illegal:

"make up about 1.5 percent of Victorian criminal offenders. While that technically means that community is overrepresented in crime figures (they make up 0.1 percent of the population), again the raw numbers don’t seem to align with the intense media and political response to the so-called crisis"

The apologist media at its finest.......         

Obsession or not, this policeman still has a lot to say about the "thugs" ("thugs" mentioned at 2:10mins)

Watch video

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-02/street-gangs-are-a-problem-in-melbourne-po...

Sir lastnail wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 12:45pm:


Why would you want to do that?

If you know they're criminals (or have criminal intent), wouldn't it be better to report them to the police?

Are you harbouring criminals?

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 12:52pm:


No.

Are you?

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 12:54pm:


Indeed.

Criminals are a big problem, and people are being killed and hurt.

I have no time for criminals, Homo.

I also have no time for people who harbour them.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 12:53pm:


Ahh yes you are.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 12:58pm:


Oh, there's crime in Vic Park Homo.

But by all means, you continue to play the victim card.

After all, that's all you've got   

Peccar you know who plays the victim & race card in this & every other country ad infinitum .....

yet you cover/ apologise for those groups all the time.

Gnads wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 1:06pm:


Why don't you post a quote from me where I apologise for a criminal?

That should sort this out once and for all.

Until you can do that, though, you're nothing more than a liar.

Life is sooo good   

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 1:11pm:


You have kebab shops in Plumpton, don't you?

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 1:16pm:


Kebabs are delicious.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 1:23pm:


They're from another culture, dear.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 1:28pm:


What parts of multiculturalism are bothering you, Homo?

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 1:35pm:


So, you have a problem with overpopulation - not multiculturalism.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 1:39pm:


We agree on something.

Maybe we could send Herbie back home.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 1:53pm:


Why new ones?

Bias_2012 wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 12:20pm:


Good post:

She said Victoria Police noticed youth offending "go to a new level" in 2016, and the State Government responded by:

adding resources to the gangs squad and special operations group
recruiting 3,135 additional frontline police
funding an intelligence system, bulletproof vehicles and other technology and resources.

"These resource are having an impact," Ms Neville said.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:11pm:

Most recent refugees don't.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:15pm:

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:30pm:

If you abuse our generosity then bugger them back off to the 3rd world asap.

you must have nothing better to do with your time Mr Hammer.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:38pm:



Our jails have better conditions than where they come from -
3 meals a day, clean water, TV, medical care  etc

No wonder they aren't scared of our jails.

Bobby. wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:46pm:

You are on the money there Bobby.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:48pm:



I was referring to the conversation you were havin g with a person who considers you to be one of the Dregs of society..

but dont let me get in the way!

Bobby. wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:46pm:



probably bobs.....they appear to be afraid of no one and it appears to be ONLY young males...

at least I havent seen older males taking part in home invasion...I would think burning the homes down  was all part of life back in Sudan....

what you cant have then no one can have...

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:49pm:


I know - they love it here -
they can live a great life -
taking drugs - robbing people - bashing people -
stealing cars and joyriding around -
invading homes -

and if they caught they are still better off in our jails than
back in their own filthy countries.

cods wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:53pm:



They love life here.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:56pm:

yep.

Bobby. wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 2:56pm:



we allow them too bobby..

we would never put up with packs of introduced animals ruling our BUSH would we??....we would stop it before it covered the whole country.. didnt we learn that after the cane toads....

at least I thought we did...

if you dont nip this in the bud....well wait till they manage to arm themselves...

cods wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 3:18pm:

Frank wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 6:20pm:

This is the thing, the kids cant go out on the streets anymore, they cant go out in safety as young teenagers to meet friends and socialise, multiculturalism will get them maimed, i am sure the youngsters run the gauntlet.
Pack up your children and head for the bush.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 6^th, 2018 at 7:06pm:

Well may you laugh, Slav arse bandit, the concept of kids is alien to you.