AMCRAN

When the Chaser team arranged for an American tourist to take snaps of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, no security guard came to question what he was doing even after fifteen minutes. When Chas Licciardello himself dressed up in a bad Arab costume, stuck on a big bushy beard, and walked onto the bridge with a camera, he was stopped within three minutes. He hadn't even got to the same spot where the American tourist had loitered. When the same experiment was repeated at Lucas Heights, the American tourist took plenty of pictures and was pointed out where to get security clearance to visit the facility. When the Arab Chas approached the facility, a security vehicle screeched right up to him within three minutes, and he was told that no photographs were to be taken in the vicinity at all.

WE have seen two so-called extremist books censored by government authorities and calls for similar material to be banned from shops, libraries and universities.

THE Prime Minister's Muslim Advisory Council has proposed a radical solution to the perceived problem of domestic extremism: the establishment of a licensing and monitoring regime for Muslim clerics, school teachers and academics.

Under the proposal, a registration body would be established and Islamic workers would be required to submit themselves to ideological and educational audit. The body would also monitor sermons and the activities of Muslim leaders to ensure continuing compliance to some vague notion of moderation.

Muslim dress should be celebrated as a sign of an accepting society, not seen as a threat, writes Amal Awad.