Be Alarmed? Australia's Anti-terrorism Kit and the Politics of Security

In early 2003 the Australian government distributed an anti-terrorism kit to all Australian residences, aimed (according to the government) at indicating what was being done to protect Australians from terrorism and suggesting what Australians themselves could do to prevent or respond to a terrorist attack. I argue here that the kit portrayed the threat of terrorism as imminent and ubiquitous, and positioned militaristic responses to this threat as the most effective means of responding to it. Such representations may be viewed as attempts to justify anti-terror legislation and intervention in Iraq, and contribute to the legitimacy of the government more generally. I conclude by pointing to the choices inherent in the depiction of security and terrorism in this way, and to immanent possibilities for more alternative (and more normatively progressive) security discourses to emerge.