Posted on 11/03/2005 6:03:10 AM PST by NZerFromHK
The Government was not given advance notice of the announcement about a possible terrorist threat to Australia, a spokesman for Prime Minister Helen Clark said last night.
"We heard through news reports that John Howard had made the statement," the spokesman told NZPA.
"At that point New Zealand officials contacted their Australian counterparts."
Mr Howard said in his announcement in Canberra that Australia had received "specific information" which raised serious concerns about a potential terrorist threat.
"I don't want to over-alarm people. I have said for a long time the possibility of an attack is there," he said.
Miss Clark said through the spokesman she could not disclose details of the information provided to the Government since the announcement was made.
"Australian officials have confirmed that there is no imminent threat of terrorist attacks in Australia," she said.
"We have also been advised that the Australian general threat level has not been raised. It remains at medium. A terrorist attack is assessed as feasible and could well occur."
It is pretty bad over here regarding Mainstream NZ's attitudes towards WOT, but at least we are no longer as pathetic as Canada and trying to chart a more responsible route.
Seems like the Kiwi government believes they will eat it last.
Consider that our government is a watered down version of Canada. Although I must stress the election in September shows this country is bitterly divided at 50-50 on left and right.
20 or 25 years ago...didn't NZ undergo a conservative overhaul of government ?
Now it is an interesting question. It was Rogernomics that got under the Labour government elected in 1984. New Zealand went free market economically, but on foreign policy and defence and social issues, it took a sharp turn to the left - it formally ended the military alliance with the United States under the very same Labour government.
Even today, you will see New Zealand's official foreign policy position as a mix of conservative and far-left ideals: it supports free trade and removal of farm subsidies, but on the otehr hand, it is also a big supporter of pacifism and UN-weenies on defence matters, and it is on the opposing side of pro-family issues.
The good people of NZ haven't thrown Helen out yet?
Hey Helen...shut your socialist pie hole before your brain cell catches a draft.
Cluck is such a dopey cow!
Well, she would say that, wouldn't she? Guess she agrees with our islamofascist clerics:
Clerics still preaching hatred of West (snip)
Richard Kerbaj
03nov05
MUSLIM clerics in Sydney and Melbourne - led by radicals Sheik Mohammed Omran and Sheik Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud - are still preaching hatred against the West, urging followers in Arabic to resist peace and support insurgents waging war against Australian soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In open defiance of John Howard's proposed new terror laws and the Prime Minister's demand that Muslim leaders desist from inflammatory rhetoric, Lakemba cleric Sheik Zoud has used his Friday prayer meetings over the past month to praise Muslim fighters.
"Allah yinsur el-mujaheddin fe-Iraq (God grant victory to the mujaheddin in Iraq)," he repeatedly screamed during a 35-minute Arabic sermon at Lakemba's Haldon Street prayer hall in Sydney's southwest last week.
In further contempt of Mr Howard, Sheik Zoud's high-profile counterpart in Melbourne, Sheik Omran, also declared last month: "No victory (for Islam's brothers and sisters) can be stopped by George Bush or Tony Blair or John Howard."
Under expanded sedition provisions, people face up to seven years' jail for promoting feelings of ill will or hostility between different groups so as to threaten the peace, order and government of the commonwealth. This would include urging another person to engage in conduct that supports an organisation or country at war with Australia.
A third cleric - Harun Abu Talha, editor of contentious newspaper Mecca News - has also used Friday prayers at Sheik Omran's Brunswick mosque in Melbourne to attack "the criminal government of Israel that has been hurting our brothers and sisters in Palestine for so many years".
And during a prayer meeting last month, Abu Talha said: "We should not compromise our dean (religion) for the sake of peace." He concluded his sermon: "May Allah help the mujaheddin in Iraq."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17123135%255E601,00.html
Fighting words: Sheik Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud is calling for victory to the Iraqi mujaheddin. Picture: Frank Violi
I'm sorry that even though we tried hard, the country isn't quite ready to dump her yet. We are 49-50 divided on the whole issue (which is not as bad as Canada, but far worse than you).
Day by day, Dear Helen is becoming an embarrassment for NZ.
A contestant from New Zealand on Australian 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' answered the question 'in which decade of the 20th Century was television introduced in Australia' with a snide smile and the comment 'I'm tempted to answer IN THE TWENTYFIRST' and then he wriggled and giggled on the stool like a girl...
A young woman trying on a dress in my boutique several years ago made the comment 'it's a beautiful dress, I love it, but I refuse to buy anything priced in Australian dollars, you are simply ripping us New Zealanders off...'
I sense there's a malaise of victimhood in NZ that goes back a long way and it's being successfully exploited.
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