Kerre Woodham: Beach bigots a sorry sight

The big question for Kiwis watching the riots in Sydney over the last week is: could it happen here? I think not.

We're too integrated, we're too small, we're too liberal, surely, to allow hate and violence to override goodness and reason. But I would never have thought we'd see race riots in the Lucky Country either.

The New South Wales Parliament came back from their summer break on Thursday to pass tough new laws designed to put a lid on the violence. Among the measures they passed are laws giving police power to lock down areas, shut down bars and clubs, confiscate cars and refuse bail.

Combined with the new terror laws passed by the federal government, that places plenty of weapons at the disposal of the police when it comes to clamping down on troublemakers.

The anti-terror laws were met with howls of protest from Australian civil libertarians. But they didn't utter a squeak as the New South Wales Government worked through the night to get the emergency legislation through the house. They were either taken aback by the speed of the legal process or shocked into silence at the exposure of the Australian underbelly of hatred and bigotry.

Commentators have been looking for the reasons for the explosion of violence and they've covered most of the bases - unemployment among young men from both sides of the divide, alienation from the community, John Howard's "enemy within" populist election campaigning, xenophobic talkback hosts, and booze.

Last weekend's riot at Cronulla certainly featured inbreds from white supremacist groups but their ranks were swelled by liquored-up teenagers looking for a fight.

Kids love a good riot - look what happens in this country every New Year's Eve. The combination of youth, arrogance, an oversupply of testosterone, alcohol and tribalism is a volatile and potentially lethal mix. Add a racial element to the cocktail and you have Cronulla.

Howard's assertion that this is not a racial problem, it's a law and order issue, is specious. Nobody would like to admit that their politicking has contributed to such an appalling display of bigotry. But if Howard has any honesty or self-awareness, he would have to admit that his war on terror has led to the fighting on the beaches.

Sickly white liberals have also had their part to play, according to a lovely Lebanese Australian man I spoke to this week. Youssef told me that, up until Bob Hawke's campaign to win the hearts and minds of minority groups in the 80s, he was an Aussie. After the emphasis on isms, as in multi-culturalism and liberalism, he became a Lebbo and that's when he and his family first experienced another ism - racism.

He said, too, that immigrant communities had to be the ones to make the effort when they came to their host country. It was all very well being proud of your history, but you had to assimilate and appreciate the country you've come to if you are to thrive.

There are lessons here for all of us. And in a very minor way Don Brash's famous Orewa speech gave us a taste of what happens when multiculturalism is forced upon people rather than allowed to develop naturally.

The reaction to that speech took a lot of people by surprise and politicians wisely took note of the sentiments of a dissatisfied minority. Hopefully that's the worst it will get in this country. But as our friends and neighbours have shown across the ditch, we won't be able to take our peaceful society for granted.