CRONULLA RIOT ROOT CAUSE REVEALED

Federal Tasmanian Labor MP Harry Quick knows what the problem is:

"It really concerns me that Australians - if you scratch them you discover a racist and this is one of the sad things about Australia, despite us espousing multiculturalism, deep down we have this fear of people who are different from us."

More specifically, it's a Sydney problem:

"Because in Sydney especially, I am in Melbourne today and I'd like to think that Melbourne has a totally different attitude but in Sydney there is overt racism."

Sydney, home of the Aussie redneck.

Update: Apparently the problem isn't confined to Sydney:

Western Australian police in Perth are investigating an attack by a group of young men against a family of Middle Eastern background.

Police spokesman Ian Hazelby says eggs were thrown at the family's home and the garage door was kicked in about 9:30pm AWST yesterday.

"They've also began yelling abuse at him and his family and he's saying to police he's been living in the area for about eight months, he's never had any trouble before and he's rather aghast that something like this could be happening in Perth, Western Australia," the spokesman said.

"It might have some sort of connotation to what's been going on in Cronulla, Sydney."

Ramdas Sankaran from the Ethic Communities Council [sic] of Western Australia is calling for calm.

"As long as it remains an isolated incident I suppose we've got every reason to be calm and not be unduly perturbed," he said.

A few years back a carload of yobs drove past my place screaming obscenitites and throwing eggs: I immediately assumed it was an anti-Yank thing and panicked. Silly me.