The Message of Cronulla

With the passage of time, let’s quietly dissect what the Cronulla ‘riots’ actually meant, shall we?

A small group, a small ethnic group, interpreted our country’s deep tolerance as weakness. This group decided that this weakness meant that they could pretty much do what they liked, as ‘we’ were too absorbed in our own corruption and dissolution to do much about anything (never mind this ethnic group’s own deep, and ingrained corruption). Then, one day, a trigger point was reached. It’s an interesting trigger point, in that it galvanised a generation (effectively); it motivated this same, ‘weak’ and ‘corrupt’ country to suddenly stop and think about what it is that gives them the opportunity to be so.

The reaction was actually a given.

Cronulla was a warning, loud and clear. It said: ‘Watch out. You push too far, and guess what? We, too, can get medieval on your arse.’

And so it did. And so it should.

Come here, be our friend, and be welcome. Come here, be our enemy, and find out what may well happen.

Cronulla was a warning. Nothing more and nothing less.

And the warning said: ‘Don’t push too far. Because, gentle and tolerant as we are, if you do, there is that distinct possibility that, given you have betrayed our trust, we can actually do a lot, lot worse. . .’

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