Going soft

By now I assume everyone is aware of what happened in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla at the weekend. Anyone who hasn't heard of it need only do a Google News search for "racial violence" -- I'm too lazy to dig up a link to the original story right now. As usual, there has been all sorts of finger-pointing flying around in the media (who should probably take some of the blame themselves for all the "us and them" stories they seem so fond of). Rumours have been flying around on the Internet of retaliatory attacks by various groups as far away as Melbourne, and there have been further stories of inciteful text messages doing the rounds on the Gold Coast (nobody has texted me yet, but that may only be because they realise just how useless I'd be in a fight).

However, has anyone stopped to ask just why a brawl of that size can see so few people arrested? One report I heard on Sunday Evening claimed 16 people had been arrested (many of whom will be released without charge), which might seem like a lot, but it's peanuts when one considers that the first night of Schoolies' Week this year saw 35 people arrested in a relatively quiet opening (the same night has been over 100 in the past), and yet that particular event didn't see scenes anything like what happened in Sydney. It's not the first time violent events have taken place with relatively few people held accountable. One night on the Gold Coast earlier this year, two brawls involving a total of 70 people saw a grand total of just one arrest. One restaurant owner in Brisbane is even looking to get a council permit to have his own "police" patrol his street because the regular fights are driving patrons away.

There has been a lot of talk about new laws or curfews to try to prevent repeats of this sort of violence, but this sort of thing has never really been shown to be effective. After all, we already have laws against assault and related offences, breaking a curfew is hardly going to be of a concern to the perpetrators of acts like these. Sooner or later, someone is going to have to start holding thugs accountable for their own actions on an individual basis. Let's be realistic about this incident, it was not an isolated event. The comments from many of the local residents in various places indicate that this sort of thing has been going on for quite some time (albeit smaller instances), and too often both the police and the courts have failed to act appropriately to remove the offenders. Indeed, I know some people in Sydney who won't even leave their house without being accompanied by their very large dog.

Furthermore, it isn't going to stop here either. What is truly needed to put a stop to this sort of thing is for the Australian legal system, from the police right through to the judges in the Highest Court in the country, to take a stand on violent crimes. It's time to stop listening to lame excuses like "the other lot were doing it". At present in this country, a person will receive a longer sentence for insider trading than for murder (excepting the really high-profile cases when the media jumps on the bandwagon), this is hardly a deterrent. It's a sad indictment on a country's national psyche when killing someone is considered a lesser crime than "beating the system".

There are, of course, other issues to be resolved. The whole "us and them" approach people in this country have toward immigrants is extremely immature, and really should have been bred out generations ago. It's all well and good (and probably quite accurate) to blame the media for it, but they alone aren't totally culpable here -- those stories wouldn't sell so many newspapers if people didn't already have some underlying feelings in this area. However, first and foremost, it's time to end this country's cavalier attitude towards violence, and that starts with some serious sentences for the perpetrators. Until that happens, the situation will continue to deteriorate.