WAGGA RSL sub-branch president Kevin Kerr fears the Paris attacks might be just the start of a wave of violence that could spread to Australia.
“What happened is terrible, and you have to wonder what will happen in the future,” said Mr Kerr, speaking personally because the weekend’s attacks have not been discussed by the sub-branch executive.
“Paris may well be the starting point, we don’t know.”
Mr Kerr is horrified at the brutality and callousness of the terrorists.
“They don’t stick to the rules (of military engagement), we stick to the rules, but they don’t.
“They don’t respect the Geneva Convention, and it makes it very tough.
“They seem to have no respect for life, and we don’t know if we are going to have the same trouble in Australia in the future.
“Our relaxed attitude could come up for questioning.”
But Mr Kerr urges Australia to think hard before sending in ground troops to fight Islamic State in Syria.
Islamic State has taken responsibility for the Paris atrocities.
“We have gone into Iraq and Afghanistan … and we have not made a lot of progress,” Mr Kerr said.
“It costs Australia a lot of money, we have to look at these sorts of things.”
Mr Kerr feels trepidation about hundreds of Syrians bound for the Riverina, possibly within weeks, as part of Australia accepting 12,000 refugees from the war-torn Middle east country.
“One of the things we need to be careful of is getting too many of a particular area (ethnicity),” Mr Kerr said.
“Will it upset the equilibrium of our community?”
“This multiculturalism doesn’t seem to encourage people to integrate.
“A lot of people are worried about that.”
He said terrorist attacks repeatedly linked to radicalised Muslims was making people nervous about large numbers of the Islamic faith moving into the region.
“That seems to be what I am hearing,” Mr Kerr said.
“Naturally enough, there is a lot of concern.
“Even though it is a low percentage (of radicalised Muslims in the Islamic faith) it puts the others under suspicion as a result.”
