`A Magnificent Coincidence'

In what journo Matt Price described to the ABC's Richard Glover as `a magnificent coincidence', John Howard and Philip Ruddock have announced what they describe as a credible imminent terrorist threat against Australia, which is so serious that it will necessitate the recall of the Senate tomorrow to rush through amendments to anti-terrorism legislation.

I'm sorry, but: bullshit. Absolute bullshit.

I just don't buy it.

This is the same mob that sent a Hazmat team into the Indonesian embassy to seek out a `biological agent' in the wake of the Schapelle Corby verdict which turned out to be nothing more than ... what? We were never really told, were we? Whatever it was, it clearly wasn't anthrax or bubonic plague or any substance of the sort they were trying to imply it was at the time.

Playing with fear to ram through contentious legislation isn't new to the Howard government, but doing it so blatantly is just plain embarrassing. Now, who knows? If there's a terrorist attack tomorrow, I'll admit that I was wrong. But right now, I just cannot buy the fact that ASIO has suddenly uncovered a grand terrorist plot, and it has just happened to occur at exactly the same time a few crucial people were getting wobbly knees on pushing through anti-terror legislation. It's a mark of the sort of lies and deception this government has been responsible for that I have become so sceptical, but it's true.

More `information' here. Bring on the sedition charges, people!

Update, 4th November: A good article on the `Magnificent Coincidence' and the legislation tweak by Richard Ackland here.