Border Security

After 31st March, travellers flying in and out of Australia can only carry limited amount of liquid/aerosol products onboard their flight. I had to research these regulations because mum will be leaving after March and she wonders about bringing alcohol back to HK, which tends to come in bottles of 750ml. According to the website, you can bring several containers of liquid, each not exceeding 100ml, and all must fit in a one litre transparent plastic bag. This is supposed to limit the amount of liquid one can bring onboard to about 500ml, which is not enough to make a bomb. The website claims current technology cannot efficiently distinguish liquids from one another, hence the restriction on the amount. OK, so how much liquid is needed to make explosive? 10 litre? So put 20 terrorists into the same plane. 20 x 500ml = 10L. Simple. Practically anything one can bring onto a plane can potentially become part of a bomb. The only way to prevent this is to knock every passenger out before they board, then wake them up after landing. I reckon is will be the way of the future. Airlines will save massive amounts of money because they don't need to provide meals or any cabin equipment, while passengers will no longer suffer from cramped space, crying babies or that annoying kid kicking the seat from behind. It's clearly a win-win situation.

During my research, I also found that the "national counter terrorism threat alert" for Australia is currently set to MEDIUM. What?! Who's threatening us? The only justification for this threat level is because our (adjectives withheld. Use your imagination...) Prime Minister sent troops to Iraq, thus there must be some risk of facing retaliation. It almost feels like the government is deliberately creating threats out of nothing so they can flex their military muscle, which is probably as big as those on my skinny arms. Speaking of the military, I always read in the news our country is buying fighter jets (like F-16s) from the US, but never heard of them being used. Seriously, does Australia even need them? We have the coast guards to interdict seabound illegal immigrants, and...that's about it. If some nation invades Australia (China? Indonesia?), can our air force, with our old F-16s and F-111s, stop them? I don't really know the answer because I don't know the size and capability of the RAAF; I'm merely ranting.