What Australian newspapers say on Saturday, August 12, 2006

AAP General News (Australia)
08-12-2006
What Australian newspapers say on Saturday, August 12, 2006

SYDNEY, Aug 12 AAP - The thwarted plot to explode as many as 10 airliners high above
the Atlantic Ocean is further evidence of the difficulty and importance of staying one
step ahead of extremism, The Weekend Australian says in its editorial today.

Ultimately, the war against terrorists cannot be won unless we can name our enemy.

We should not shy away from calling Islamic terrorists what they are.

Muslims in the West should be encouraged to do their part and not let radicals hide
behind their communities or let advocacy groups hijack their sympathies.

Radical Islam has replaced communism as the totalitarian rival to Western freedom.

Its ultimate enemy is the freedoms we enjoy. In their place, they would impose a violent
theocracy.

The challenge is to see things clearly and continue living our lives unbowed.

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph says news about the planned blowing up on of airplanes
over the Atlantic underscores a critical element of the global struggle against terrorism.

This is a completely new kind of "war" -- one in which the normal expectations of human
behaviour can no longer be trusted.

The enemy has only one objective -- to cause indiscriminate suffering and death.

In this war, the enemy is best thought of as a wildly insane and unpredictable cult
-- a death cult -- to be defeated only when its means of delivering bloodshed had been
dismantled, piece by piece.

Brisbane's The Courier-Mail says the war on terrorism must be won at home, too.

The US and its allies are constant targets and must respond, including limiting freedoms
previously taken for granted in order to win the long fight to win those freedoms back.

To win the war we must also win the war of words and ideas. Leaders of the free world
must better express that this is a just and gallant cause that must be fought with unrelenting
determination.

This is not a battle about a new form of imperialism; it is about the right of the
international community to exist without the constant threat of evil radicals whose intentions
know no bounds.

Not all Australians are comfortable with stringent anti-terrorism laws that may curb
their liberties and rights. But they recognise safeguards are needed in the interests
of security. The task of capturing the support of public opinion at home is a just cause.

It must be won.

Melbourne's Herald Sun says the fight against terrorism has entered a new phase with
the foiled plot to bomb US-bound planes.

British authorities believe the suicide bombers were within days of carrying out their evil plot.

It is not an over-exaggeration to say the ambition, planning and audacity of this murderous
plot will change our lives.

Melbourne's The Age says the main point related to the terror alert in Britain this
week is that no one died.

The scale of the plot and the number of arrests suggest this could have been on a par
in its devastating consequences with September 11, 2001.

Unlike 9/11, the delivery of mass death was sinister in its ordinariness.

The bomb components are household items and are invisible to the scanners used at airports
for hand luggage.

The 24 arrested are accused of planning to smuggle liquid explosives in bottles onto
the planes and then detonate them with a charge from a battery, such as those in MP3 players
or laptops. It is not a new method.

The Sydney Morning Herald says the Epping-Chatswood rail link is NSW's largest infrastructure
project, and its biggest rail project for the best part of a century.

The rail link is the most obvious measure of the government's competence as an economic
manager. Unhappily for Labor, it has been characterised by an ever widening gap between
promise and performance.

The latest cost break-out, the government says, is caused by inflation and the cost
of extra noise abatement.

The latter sounds like simple incompetence. As for inflation, the government should
have hedged its inflation risk or negotiated fixed-price contracts.

The bottom line is this government cannot deliver on its promises. And it has made
promises aplenty.

The Weekend Australian Financial Review says investing in the stock market is a long-term
exercise with multiple ups and downs that should balance out over a couple of decades
to produce a reasonable return.

Investors need to temper expectations of more bumper returns in the immediate future.

Perhaps they should look at the modest guide super funds use to gauge investment performance.

Long-term, most funds are happy if their total portfolio -- including shares, bonds
and other assets -- outstrips inflation by 3 to 4 per cent.

AAP jat/rs

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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