The video can, at least for the time being, be downloaded from or viewed on the program website. Well worth a look.
Apart from exposing some elementary weaknesses in the security arrangements (eg why wasn't there a running sheet of motorcade details ?) , the whole stunt showed, if last night's estimated viewing audience of around 3 million is any indication, that many Australians haven't lost their sense of humour. Unfortunately most politicians didn't reflect this. Mr Howard, Mr Rudd and Mr Iemma all harrumphed as hard as they could. At least Mr Downer took it more in the spirit in which it was intended:
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer denied The Chaser team had revealed a chink in APEC security, saying as they were arrested, the system worked.
But he told an APEC news conference: "Whatever you think of the humour of The Chaser ... they were clearly not going to harm anybody in a physical way.
"They presumably were, as is the nature of their show, aiming to humiliate a lot of well-known people.
"In my particular case on this one, I managed not to see them, so it just shows how lucky you can get,'' Mr Downer said, smiling.
"The point is they were in any case arrested, so I think the security works.''
Mr Downer would recall the then US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's visit to Adelaide last year, about which I posted . The security arrangements then were considerable, but nowhere near as restrictive as they were for APEC in Sydney. And the Chaser team didn't attempt to test them.
1 comment:
Haven't heard of any professional polls - have you - which show what Australians thought of APEC, the Chaser security breach, and how all this might affect their vote. The best thing - if one has the talent to do it - with poor laws and regulations is to hold it up to ridicule. Chaser did this brilliantly. My desk calendar once told me that the best thing to do with a bad law is implement it! I agree with this - it is the only thing to wake some people up. No amount of telling will do it.
Blessings and bliss
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