The campaign would urge people to report anomalies such as an abandoned car outside a public building

SYDNEY, November 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Australia announced plans Sunday, November 24, to launch an advertising campaign telling people how to spot terrorists, prompting warnings that it could whip up public hysteria and encourage racial stereotyping.

Prime Minister John Howard said the unprecedented television advertisements would be launched in time for the Christmas holidays, reinforcing the need to be alert to terrorist threats, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

“This is virgin territory for Australia and I don’t pretend that we’ll have it absolutely right,” he told Channel Seven television.

Howard said the campaign would urge people to report anomalies such as an abandoned car outside a public building or a person leaving a package in a bar and then running off.

“I don’t want people to become paranoid about this but we have to try, however inadequately though the advice may be, we have to try and help people.”

Howard said Australians had to get used to the fact that there may be terrorists amongst them, although they should not allow it to change the way they went about their lives.

The publicity campaign is the latest sign of Australians coming to grips with the fact that they are vulnerable to terrorism following last month’s car bombing in Bali that killed at least 190 people, about half of them Australian.

The country is currently on high alert after authorities last week said they received credible information terrorists planned to target Australia.

Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie said the government needed to ensure the content of the advertisements was sensitively dealt with.

“I don’t want to see people judged on their ethnic background... we’ve got to be careful we don’t get any hysteria about this,” he told reporters.

“This is virgin territory for Australia and I don’t pretend that we’ll have it absolutely right”

Federal opposition leader Simon Crean declined to back the planned advertising campaign until the government gave him more details on its content.

He said while the advertisements could act as a way for authorities to “take the Australian public into our confidence”, details outlined by Howard were too vague.

Howard also flagged tougher immigration laws allowing members of banned terrorist organizations, such as Jemaah Islamiah (JI), to be deported even if they hold a valid visa to be in Australia.

His comments followed federal government confirmation that a man claiming JI membership is living in Australia on a valid visa.

Howard said the government did not have the power to deport the man.

“It may well be that we will want to approach the parliament again with some further changes,” he said.

“These are once again delicate balance issues, we don’t want to abrogate basic rights.

“But on the other hand most Australians will take the view that anybody who has trained with a terrorist organization, whatever that person’s status is in this country legally, is not really the sort of person we like to have here.”

Meanwhile on Saturday, Howard called on his compatriots to exercise tolerance after initially failing to douse calls for Muslim women to change their religious clothing, AFP reported.

Howard was responding to criticism that he appeared sympathetic to a suggestion from Australian cleric and New South Wales legislator Fred Nile that Muslim women be banned from wearing the chador, the head-to-foot dress favored by some devout Muslim women.

Nile suggested the chador could be used by terrorists to conceal weapons or bombs.

Howard this week initially refused to condemn Nile, saying he understood what he was getting at, but stopped short of agreeing with him.

He softened his stance after media criticism Saturday amid a hotbed atmosphere following the Bali bombing that killed 190 people, almost half of them Australian, which has been blamed on Islamic extremists.

“There are some things that haven’t changed and one of the things that hasn’t changed and mustn’t change is the character of Australia as a free and open and decent and tolerant nation,” he said.

“It’s very important that we retain our sense of justified self-belief in the national virtues and values of Australia.” 

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