OUR VIEW: Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty

Whether what police allege is a guerrilla or military style training camp on the edge of the Urewera ranges is proved to have operated in an illegal manner is a matter that will be either proved or disproved in the appropriate forum - the courts.
But what its discovery does highlight is that New Zealanders cannot, and never should, delude ourselves that this country is incapable of becoming a terrorists' haven.
Geographically, we may well be at the world's end but the very nature of our location and its rugged terrain makes this island nation an ideal location for those of ill intent to turn to their advantage.
There are millions of hectares every bit as isolated as Te Urewera National Park in which to "practice manoeuvres". On the other side of the coin it is equally possible to move into cities and, to all intents and purposes, become normal law-abiding citizens until the call to arms is issued.
Fanciful "sleeper" scenes from a John le Caree spy thriller? Not a bit of it. Consider the London bombers of two years ago who lived seemingly normal family lives in the relative obscurity of provincial cities. Certainly, most of those involved were second generation UK citizens, the children of migrants who had entered the country legally.
Do not let that lull us into a false sense of security. Stringent as New Zealand border security is, it has to be accepted that there are those with sufficient expertise in espionage to traverse passport control despite the vigilance of its highly trained personnel.
And only the most naive would delude themselves that there are not those among our own countrymen who harbour subversive tendencies. It was only five months since the government agreed to repeal the law relating to sedition. Today the modern equivalent is the Terrorism Suppression Act, considered so serious it requires the consent of the Solicitor-General for charges to be laid.
It is under this act that the Urewera arrests were made. Other than the media frenzy they have generated, this week's events have hammered home the reality that there is no room for complacency where terrorism is perceived to be a threat to national security.
- Jill Nicholas