White paper should tackle terrorist television

This standard should be changed. Any TV station owned and-or operated by a terrorist organisation should be banned in Australia.

If our law enforcement agencies - and, in the case of al-Qaida, our defence forces - are in battle against these terrorists, why should their terrorist-promoting, racist propaganda be allowed to beam into Australian homes?

It seems as if ACMA has recognised this problem. It recently announced a new investigation into al-Manar and suggested that, at its conclusion, it will determine whether its anti-terrorism standard will need to be changed.

But this is a weighty matter beyond the responsibility of the broadcasting authority.

It's ultimately up to the government of the day to make this decision, a decision in line with existing Australian law.

The Australian criminal code states that any organisation that "directly or indirectly counsels or urges the doing of a terrorist act [or] directly praises the doing of a terrorist act in circumstances where there is a risk that such praise might have the effect of leading a person to engage in a terrorist act" will be proscribed by the Attorney-General.

Al-Manar has been doing this for years, but successive governments haven't done anything about it.

France, Spain, Germany and the US have all banned al-Manar, resulting in eight satellite providers dropping it from their services. It can no longer be seen in North or South America, most of Africa or most of Europe.

Only the Middle East, South-East Asia and Australia are subjected to its poisonous messages.

Whereas France cited the station's gross anti-Semitism, Germany's reason was the potential radicalisation of that country's Muslims.

Sound familiar?

Al-Manar is a TV station that calls for terrorist actions, triumphs in violent jihad and martyrdom, revels in promoting overt racism and hopes to radicalise its Lebanese and international viewers in support of a terrorist organisation.

It needs to be banned.