Gerard Henderson fighting the good fight

The World Today - Anti-terrorism laws: safety measure or political gameplay?

On Friday I heard The World Today on Radio National, in which there was a good stoush between the always cool, rational (and conservative) Gerard Henderson and Robert Toner (a New South Wales barrister on the side of the over-cautious civil libertarians) on the Federal government's anti terror legislation.

Things did get a bit heated as these extracts show:

"GERARD HENDERSON: Yeah, but the error you're making is, and many barristers make, you don't have to take…

ROBERT TONER: We're the ones that deal with it day in, day out.

GERARD HENDERSON: Yeah, but just a minute… is that you're talking about criminality, and I think… can I just finish? I think you underplay the significance of the threat. Let's just talk about Britain.

ROBERT TONER: What, of mass murder? Why should we?

GERARD HENDERSON: Could I just finish? If we just talk about Britain, not talk about Australia. What we're dealing here with is not criminals, so much as revolutionaries. Revolutionaries who come up with ideological doctrines deserve to be taken seriously.

If someone says to me they want to destroy our society, I have the good sense to take them seriously until proven otherwise. This is a revolutionary force at a new time of war. We are not dealing with normal acts of criminality for which barristers have dealt for many years."

And then:

"GERARD HENDERSON: All I'm saying is that if every State Premier, if every Territory leader, if the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader, the Federal Police, and all the State Police say something needs to be done, I don't think it's… I mean, it's very easy for someone for the Bar to say they're all wrong.

ROBERT TONER: Because they're spooked by the polls, they're spooked by the editorial writers of the Daily Telegraph.

GERARD HENDERSON: Oh are they? So they don't believe what they're doing? They're just spooked by people, they're just scared. I mean…

ROBERT TONER: Well, hang on a minute, this is out of balance.

GERARD HENDERSON: That is a ridiculous proposition. As a barrister you should be able to do better than that.

ELEANOR HALL: Now, I just need to intervene here."

Of course, I rate Henderson as the winner.