Last Friday, I was one of the unfortunate ones to miss the live debate in the House of Representatives on the Defence (Amendment) Bill but luckily I got a chance to look at a re-broadcast on Sunday.

This must have been the first time I was so taken up with the parliamentary proceedings. I looked on in awe and could not stop guffawing at the Attorney General's speech. The man had me in tears, literally! In all my years I have never seen such a witty yet frank contribution to the Parliament.

Putting all jokes aside though, the Attorney General simultaneously clean bowled the Opposition on Friday, firing back at the remarks and rebuttals as they came. I do hope our nation paid attention to the debate because oftentimes I hear a lot of ignorant people commenting on this bill without proper knowledge.

I think that the precepting of the soldiers is a good idea as an approach to crime in this country. Honestly, we have definitely started off on the wrong foot and I think it's about time that we be a bit proactive than reactive and face the problem head on.

Undoubtedly, there are many hard-working police officers out there committed to fighting crime and protecting our nation. Many lose their lives in the battle as we saw with Sgt Hayden Manwarring. These criminals have declared war on the law-abiding citizens in this country and are attempting to seize our paradise and turn it into their sick and lethal playing field.

We have reached a point where we have no other option but to utilise and unleash all our forces against these lawbreakers and retrieve our rights from them. Every human being in this country is entitled to a life free of violence and it is about time we stop letting these delinquents have total control over our freedom of movement and if that means utilising the army in our fight, then so be it.

These officers took an oath to serve, protect and defend and I would like to see them do just that. I am fed up with the crime in this country. These pests have paralysed our every move. The period for that is over!

As far as the Attorney General goes, I would like to give him two thumbs up to him for his entertaining contribution on Friday and encourage him to desist from allowing his vision to become blurred by the Opposition's smoke bombs.

R Martin

Glencoe