Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin
Sydney’s newspapers: the night the censors called armed officers on the press (theguardian.com)
10 points by CaptainZapp on June 5, 2023 | hide | past | favorite | 5 comments


In an Australian context, seeing "security officers" (these are guards from before the Australian Federal Police was formed) pulling guns on ordinary people is pretty chilling: That just doesn't happen now. It was wartime, it was perhaps contextually understood but if you want to stop a truck driver, pulling a gun on him isn't how we do it here.

Calwell basically wrote his own end, the night he did this. No paper helped him after this, Perhaps this is why Labor historically has been so scared of Murdoch and the power of the press.


"Perhaps this is why Labor historically has been so scared of Murdoch and the power of the press."

Likely so, and likely why that bastard Ming Menzies didn't have much trouble keeping Labor out of power for decades.

Ah, Good 'ol Arthur and that other fella Doc Evatt may have made Labor's power aspirations difficult but at least politics back then was never boring like the yawn it is these days.

——

Edit: Menzies was one of the few people who would make me throw things at the TV when he appeared, but his quick wit and barbed responses also made politics interesting. Heard him at an election rally once, his response to a heckler was just milliseconds in coming and the putdown devastatingly effective.


"pulling guns on ordinary people is pretty chilling: That just doesn't happen now."

"Ordinary" people seems like an important criteria here. The police still shoot people and raided the ABC not that long ago.


They didn't pull firearms to raid the ABC.

You would surely agree that gun pulling isn't considered normal everyday police technique, every single use of a firearm in Australia for police purposes is reviewed afterward. Far too many deaths in custody for sure, but.

1.7 deaths per 10m.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/police-ki...


I agree.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: