Well, it’s come to this: motorcycle-mounted paramedics in Sydney are being spat at and insulted by pedestrians on their way to urgent cases. These blokes have saved a lot of lives because they can get to someone very quickly after they’ve suffered (especially) a heart attack. The quicker you get medical attention, the less likely you are to sustain brain damage or die.

They don’t just do a good job, they do a life-and-death job. And yet

I don’t know whether aggression against bike paramedics has increased since the launch of the State government’s hysterical anti-Bikie campaign, but I’ve never heard of anything like this before. What it looks like to me is a government well past its use-by date trying to create a sense of fear – because a scared community is more likely to stick with the devil it knows, come election time. And all motorcyclists are suffering.

From South Australia, for instance, I’m getting reports of Ulysses Club members being refused service in pubs. For those who don’t know about this organisation (about two or three of you, I’d say), it’s an almost painfully respectable social club made up of motorcyclists aged at least 40. Not a major threat to public order anywhere, except perhaps if the glucosamine supplies run out.

It’s very easy for the government to say that of course they’re not the intended target of the various campaigns, but if you fling enough mud a bit of it will always stick – and not just to your intended target.

Maybe you’d like to consult Brendan Nelson’s excellent guide to affecting the political process (in ARR #53) and let your representative know that you don’t appreciate this. The paramedics certainly don’t.