“The biggest thing that I have learnt by a country mile out of my visit, particularly to Britain, is the extraordinary value of surveillance cameras,” Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, said in London last month. “I have been mightily impressed with the great capacity of the British police within 24 hours to identify people,” he said. “And these cameras, which of course are far more extensively used in Britain and other parts of the world other than in Australia, are certainly a real plus in catching people.” Mr Howard said CCTV was “one of a number of issues” he would discuss with state premiers. An increase in surveillance cameras was backed by the Justice Minister, Chris Ellison, and the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, who said CCTV “being in place in so many different locations” had “clearly proved to be very effective”. Meanwhile, SMH reported that Australian National University terrorism expert, Clive Williams, said closed-circuit surveillance would do little to stop terrorism. “In the London Underground, there are thousands of CCTV cameras and only a small portion are monitored live,” Mr Williams said. Sydney already has some CCTV cameras, including 48 in the CBD but Britain has a vast video surveillance covering cities, public transport and motorways, with links to Scotland Yard as well as to local authorities.
