ELLEN FANNING: Prime Minister, part of what was chilling yesterday was seeing a lot of people in between the violence doing things that you'd see at the cricket, singing "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi", wrapping themselves in the Australian flag. What do you say to people who use the Australian flag in that way?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I would never condemn people for being proud of the Australian flag. I don't care – I would never condemn people for being proud…

- interview, A Current Affair, Nine Network, 12.12.05

More thoughts of Chairman Johnny:

JOURNALIST: Do you think anything the Government said over the last few years has set the tone for the actions on the weekend?
PRIME MINISTER: Which Government?
JOURNALIST: Your Government.
PRIME MINISTER: My Government? No certainly not. What do you have in mind?
JOURNALIST: Your position on Iraq….
PRIME MINISTER: My position on Iraq?
JOURNALIST: Do you think that’s had any influence on people feeing alienated?
PRIME MINISTER: Well my position… my position on Iraq? You’ve got to be joking.

- Press Conference, Sydney, 12.12.05

Later on in the same PC which, on Monday morning, was John Howard's first public statement on Sunday afternoon's riots:

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you did mention tribalism. Can you talk a little bit more about that? What is it that…
PRIME MINISTER: Well I think most Australians, put simply most Australians want a nation where, irrespective of our background and always accepting the right of people to retain affection for their own culture and to honour it as well as their own religion and to honour that, we should encourage to the maximum extent possible, everybody to become part of the integrated Australian community, that’s what I mean and I think any emergence of so-called ethnic gangs is a manifestation of tribalism and something which in different ways, we should try to discourage.

and a bit later:

JOURNALIST: Why has it taken you until now to condemn this situation? It’s been building up for a week or (inaudible) a month?
PRIME MINISTER: Me? Well I would have thought that condemning something before yesterday, when… what was I going to condemn?
JOURNALIST: Well pressure’s been building up. I mean publicity’s been…..
PRIME MINISTER: What was I supposed to do?
JOURNALIST: Perhaps you could have called for calm earlier, perhaps….
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, call for calm, yes.

and discussing the issues this morning before choofing off to Kuala Lumpur for the inaugural East Asia Summit:

"I don’t think we should over complicate this"

- from doorstop interview, Kirribilli House, 13.12.05

While the law-and-order aspects of the riots are a state responbility, this is what Senator Amanda Vanstone, the federal Minister for, among other things, Multicultural and Citizenship Affairs, has had to say to date:

 
 
 
 

Kim Beazley commented at a doorstop interview on Monday morning. There have been press releases issued by Senator Andrew Bartlett (Australian Democrats) and Senators Kerry Nettle and Bob Brown (Australian Greens). The NSW Liberal Party has issued press releases by Malcolm Kerr (local member for Cronulla) on Saturday, and by state Leader of the Opposition Peter Debnam on Monday and Tuesday.

(Did I ever mention that no political party on the right wing in Australia has an RSS feed for press releases on their website, while every major centre or left party does?)

Meanwhile, here are statements from: George Pell (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney), Peter Jensen (Anglican Archbishop of Sydney)

OK, Part 6 will be my opinions. I'll write them up late tonight, hoping that there is no more trouble this evening.