repulsewarrior wrote:...question should be, how did this guy walk the streets, why was he on bail, 40 sexual charges, and other criminal offences; the word mental health comes to mind, and i suspect that more will be directed toward it in the future, not just in Australia...
Media are beating this up as per usual.
Fact is, Australia is a democracy. To get on the terrorist watch list, you have to actually attract the attention of security intelligence agencies. You don't get on this list by sending a few letters to the families of Australian Soldiers. Agencies can monitor phone calls, emails, social media and unless he had contact with terrorist groups he just would not be on their radar.
Law is also a complex thing. There is always the presumption of innocence and sexual harassment can range from indecent touching to rape.
This is a beat up by the media and unfortunately, the end game is to allow the government agencies more powers in collecting metadata. They will erode civil liberties. So the people better watch what they ask for.
I am all for allowing the Intelligence Community more powers, but the fact remains that this guy was a loner who had no known contact with DAESH and had no internet activity of interest to the authorities.
The irony is that if we actually go too far down that road, DAESH would have a victory. The purpose of bringing terror to the West is to erode our way of life and freedoms.