This month Manly Council erected a surfboard-shaped sign at its most famous beach to instruct board-riders how to behave in the surf. Two years ago the council installed a $26,000 safety fence at the notorious ”jump rock”, where the young and young-at-heart plunge into the ocean below. This year it pledged to have rangers patrol the area, intent on catching thrill-seekers in the act. But their efforts haven’t stopped the kids from jumping, and the fence has simply turned out to be an expensive ratepayer-funded diving platform.<\/p>\n
That parents, teachers, doctors, priests, and other assorted experts claim to know best about the potential risks and dangers we face – both individually and as a community – is nothing new. But the expectation that government should legislate to protect us from these risks and dangers is.<\/p>\n
This poses some fundamental questions about citizens’ relationship with government. Protecting our physical security – for example from threats of war, violence and other types of crime – is at the core of what governments do. But how far does the definition of security extend?<\/p>\n