The link to the first video has now been removed, but I looked at the rest of it.
Of course, we have Abbott's insensitive comments to thank for the ugliness of the day, but isn't it extraordinary how he has still managed to turn the negative publicity from himself to the PM? All the comments are now about her staffer who leaked the info (and tell me how, when they're in a glass-encased room with full viewing access to the street, was the venue supposed to be a secret?), and not on the stupidity of Abbott's comments on what is a sensitive day for the Aboriginal people.
It really does seem to have been woefully mismanaged - as you say, if it was the U.S., somebody would have been shot, but if it was the U.S., the crowd would never have got near the restaurant in the first place. Can you imagine leaving Obama that vulnerable?
And I still think the security guys over-reacted - why in the name of all that's holy, did they have to drag Julia away in that fashion? She looked powerless and undignified, not good looks for a PM, and I don't believe it was necessary. A cordon of police should have been enough for Gillard and Abbott to both get away quickly.
Big questions for me to have answered would be:
Why choose a venue so close to the tent embassy?
And why was the crowd allowed to get that close to the restaurant?
And it should be the PM's office asking those questions so that it doesn't happen again.
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