Terrorism hits Sydney

The terrorist siege in Sydney has certainly woken up the nation, the police were fantastic - on the scene within minutes of receiving the call. While authorities may have originally thought it was an armed hold-up; the gunman forcing hostages to hold up an Islamic flag certainly dispelled that theory - terrorism had arrived in the centre of Sydney.  

Surrounded by the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans to the west, south and east plus the Arafura Sea to the north; we thought we were immune to terrorism due to our isolation - that myth was dispelled forever. When the Islamic State sought to behead an Australian on Australian soil earlier this year, planned to be uploaded to social media - that act of barbarism was thwarted by authorities. Australia has been on high alert since September this year with an attack deemed likely although no specific threat was identified at the time. 

The human face of the hostage siege, hostages were rotated through duty to be displayed on the shop window. I have been somewhat disappointed by some commentary on social media, while no doubt has been raised as to the origin of the siege, I hope Muslims living in Australia are not targeted in a manner that could be linked to intolerance, bigotry and racism even though this act could be considered an attack on our values, ideals and lifestyle. We need to be strong and rise against the challenge as we have done before.