WORLD YOUTH DAY, the mass gathering of mostly Catholic young people in Sydney later this month, is supposed to be "a happy and positive celebration of youth", according to the State Government. But it is shaping up as a festival of intolerance, not so much on the part of the Catholic Church as on the part of state authorities.

We suddenly learn that under regulations which were gazetted by the Police Minister, John Watkins, last Friday, the police and thousands of volunteer marshals have sweeping powers over the behaviour of citizens at hundreds of sites around the city for the entire month of July. Police and marshals from outfits like the State Emergency Services or bushfire brigades are empowered to stop such personal expressions as wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a message, carrying out Chaser-style spoofs, or handing out condoms.

Those who defy orders to desist from conduct that "causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event" will be liable to a $5500 fine - which, it has been pointed out, is five times the maximum fine for indecent exposure, though at least the alternative of six months' jail is not attached.

The assumption that participants in such an event need to be protected from embarrassment is misplaced, repugnant and dangerous. This is not a gathering of the world's top leaders, like last year's APEC summit, that might attract the attention of terrorists and assassins to all participants. Specific security arrangements can be made for the focus of World Youth Day, Pope Benedict. If there is a perceived threat of a terrorist mass atrocity, there are adequate laws empowering police and intelligence services already. Volunteer marshals would be better tasked to look for suspicious packages or search bags than vet T-shirts or decide whether an object is a balloon or an inflated condom.

Naturally, the NSW Government wants this event to be a resounding success, "badging" Sydney for future extravaganzas. We suspect Mr Watkins and his policemen are also still smarting over the humiliation given by the Chaser comedians at APEC, when a car carrying a passenger dressed as Osama bin Laden managed to penetrate deep into the heart of the security zone. They should try to recover their sense of humour. The regulations should be refined forthwith. No one should object to sensible measures like bag searches, pat-downs or metal detectors at the entry to venues. But Mr Watkins has gone over the line into enforced orthodoxy.

Black Hawks down … again

IT IS impossible to remove all risk from flying, whether in fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters. The risks are necessarily magnified for the military; danger goes with the territory. It is therefore vital that those in charge minimise accidents by ensuring the highest standards of skill for pilots and aircrew, the best possible hardware and maintenance, and strict safety procedures. It is equally important that, when things do go wrong, the defence chiefs are open and honest about what happened. Cover-ups, even unnecessary delays in coming clean, serve only to undermine the morale of service personnel and public confidence. Despite the worst efforts of the military, bureaucrats and politicians, the word eventually gets out.

Consider recent incidents involving Black Hawk helicopters. On Monday, the Herald revealed that an inquiry into the crash of a Black Hawk off Fiji in 2006, in which the pilot and an SAS trooper died, found that risk-taking and sloppy safety standards existed in the elite 171 helicopter squadron. The inquiry's final report was handed to the Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, in January. That report and the results of an audit by the Defence Force chief have yet to be published, although they are due later this month.

Another serious Black Hawk incident, in East Timor last June, was kept secret - on grounds variously given as "operational reasons" and because it was "not newsworthy". While this incident, officially described as a "heavy landing", did not cause injuries, it so damaged the aircraft that it is still not back in service. Defence's sensitivity about the East Timor incident is understandable - it came while the inquiry into the Fiji accident was under way and two days after the release of an unflattering report into the 2005 chopper crash that killed nine Australian military personnel off Indonesia - but that does not excuse the cover-up.

Such coyness is etched into Defence's psyche. Due to its total lack of co-operation, no Australian journalists, only government public relations people, were present when our combat troops ceremoniously marked the start of their withdrawal from Iraq recently. The media had to settle for images distributed by Defence. Even when the remains of Australian soldiers killed at Fromelles in World War I were found, the news was withheld from waiting reporters until the Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, could officially announce it. This is pathetic.