CANBERRA WAKES UP TO A NEW TERROR

MONTHS before the arrival of the Tampa off Christmas Island crystallised
public concern about illegal immigrants, both the Coalition and the Labor
Party knew it was a simmering issue in the community.

When the opportunity arose to turn away a large, seaworthy vessel packed
with illegal immigrants John Howard grabbed it.

Kim Beazley, without a considered, viable Labor position, endorsed the
Government's actions in turning away boats and continuing Labor's policy of
mandatory detention for illegal immigrants.

Those actions have been credited with winning the election for Howard. Of
course, such thinking ignores the concessions in the previous Budget and
the subsequent September 11 terror attacks, but nonetheless the public mood
before Tampa was crucial in the formation of "border protection" and the
election outcome.

Now, there is a new border protection - an otherwise relaxed and
comfortable electorate has another simmering fear. The Labor Party, at all
levels, and the Coalition know it is there and what it is.

The new border protection is crime. Property theft, home invasion, street
crime, sexual assault, drug trade and gangs are making people, particularly
the elderly, fearful of their personal safety.

In itself the fear of rising crime has been around since Cain slew Abel but
there are new elements that are attracting the attention of both Howard and
Simon Crean. Politicians are becoming more concerned with social values.
Moral issues such as in-vitro fertilisation, embryonic stem cell research,
euthanasia, welfare dependency, native title, reconciliation and rights for
refugees are just some of the areas that are absorbing more of the national
discourse at the expense of the economic agenda.

Our political leaders are responding to an increased sophistication in the
electorate, which is looking for more than bookkeeping and Identikit
politicians. The electorate is beginning to reward those who display
courage and moral conviction, even if they do not agree with the position.
Voters may not agree with where politicians stand but they do want to know
where they stand.

Second, the electorate no longer believes dealing with crime is just a
matter for the states. The federal Government is now expected to do not
only what it can practically in its jurisdiction - customs and federal
offences - but also provide leadership for the states in co-ordinating and
co-operating in the fight against all crime.

NSW Labor Premier Bob Carr has been pushing the fight against crime and
setting aside politically correct arguments about not mentioning gangs for
some time. Two weeks ago his federal counterpart joined him.

Speaking to the NSW Labor conference, what Crean had to say about crime was
overshadowed by what he had to say about crime and western Sydney. The
federal Opposition Leader has pledged an ALP government to provide federal
funds to put more police on the beat in western Sydney.

"Through commonwealth funding," he said we can "have more police and
community policing resources to tackle specific problems like drug dealers,
hand-guns and gang violence."

This is an extraordinary shift for a federal politician. Further, Crean
suggested uniform national laws for dangerous knives and actually linked
border protection with fighting crime.

"Stopping the illegal importation of hand-guns into Australia is another
good reason for creating a proper coast guard," he said. Though
concentrating on western Sydney while in NSW, Crean did not limit the
application of more police on the beat to other areas "around the country".

Dealing with these community concerns has not been restricted to Labor.
Education Minister Brendan Nelson combined concerns about crime with some
"values politics" to criticise the Queensland Labor Government for allowing
a children's book by a murderer and torturer to be put into state schools.

Nelson didn't object to the book per se but the by-product of promoting the
murdering author as a role model in schools. He used the terms commonsense,
right and wrong and values, amid catcalls from Labor, and has been accused
of being a censorious wowser, but in the current climate is more likely to
get a sympathetic hearing from parents.

Howard has also been working on the issue of crime and linked it, like
Crean, with border protection and the war on terror. A seamless move from
one simmering issue to the next.

The Prime Minister has devoted one of his regional television broadcasts to
the tough-on-drugs strategy and delivered a long parliamentary answer on
the issue.

Pointing to encouraging declines in heroin usage among young people and an
increase in drug seizures, Howard said the figures "do give heart to
parents who are worried sick about the threat of drugs to their children".

"We have a war against terrorism, and that is a war that is justly fought
and justly prosecuted. I also believe we have a war against the scourge of
illicit drugs," he said.

And just to give impetus to the war on drugs, Bronwyn Bishop - a former
minister who has vowed not to pander to misleading crime statistics or
political correctness about gangs - will chair a parliamentary inquiry into
crime in Australia. This will be an inquiry open to "ordinary Australians"
to talk about their experiences with crime and what the federal Government
should be doing about it. Crime is on the national agenda.