FED: Australians encouraged to dob in their neighbours
Australians are being encouraged to dob in their neighbours with a new federal governmentcounter-terrorism ad campaign.
Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD has announced a three-month ad campaign, starting on Sunday,which encourages people to report suspicious behaviour on a 1800 telephone number.
Despite the advertisements not outlining what sort of behaviour should be reported,Mr HOWARD says they won't cause widespread paranoia.
The prime minister denies the campaign will cause Muslims to be used as scapegoatsor divide the community.
But AMJAD ALI MEHBOOB -- chief executive of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils-- isn't convinced.
He says an environment of paranoia is being created and there'll be repercussions inthe community, particularly in Muslim and Arabic communities.
Acting Opposition Leader JENNY MACKLIN says the advertisements are a waste of tax payers'money as there's no practical or useful information in them whatsoever.
AAP RTV klw/jas/rp
KEYWORD: TERROR HOWARD (SYDNEY)
No comments:
Post a Comment