Northern Territory turning the clock back to 1984
Legislators in Australia's deep north have drafted Orwellian new laws
targeting Aborigines, writes John Sheldon.
While you're on holiday, your teenage kids have the run of the house. Pete
has a few friends round, a few more drop by and soon your joint is jumping.
Tony next door complains. The police tell your kids to turn it down. Pete
does but some of his friends don't and soon the police are back. The next
night your daughter, Jane, has a few friends round, Pete's friends turn up
and it's another party. Sunday night your popular kids entertain again.
Tony is not a happy man.
A week later you arrive home. The house looks OK. Jane is reading. Pete is
in his room studying with his friend, Darren. You go to bed. Just after
midnight you hear footsteps and find two police officers in your hall. They
tell you they are checking who is in your house. You imagine an escaped
criminal lurking in your cupboard. Pete and Darren emerge and Darren is
arrested.
You are told his crime is being in your house. "But he is invited," you
protest . The police tell you Darren was directed to leave your house after
the party and it is now an offence for him to be there. The police tell you
they don't need a warrant because your house has been declared a place of
anti-social conduct.
By now you are convinced that these people can't be police. You tell Darren
to go back to your son's room. You push past the men to get to the phone
and tell them to get out of your house and to get their hands off Darren.
Hours later, you find yourself at the police station on charges of
hindering police.
If you think this could not happen in Australia - think again.
On June 7, the Orwellian-sounding Public Order and Anti-Social Conduct Bill
was introduced into the Northern Territory Parliament and it is about to
become law.
The bill seeks to regulate "anti-social conduct". In the language of the
Territory this means the behaviour of itinerant Aborigines in town centres.
The Northern Territory Chief Minister, Denis Burke, boasts that the bill is
directed at "itinerants or long-grassers". He claims he is "not being
racist" in saying that "many of [the NT's] urban problems might not be
there if some of these people went home".
The former NT chief minister, Shane Stone, would be proud. It was he who,
in 1997, said of Aborigines with drinking problems: "They should go back to
their own land, if they don't, they deserve to be monstered and stomped on
by the community." He added that Aborigines should receive "harsh
retribution" for behaviour unacceptable to the broader community.
The bill targets those whom the lawmakers don't want to see in public
thoroughfares: the homeless, the alcoholic, the mentally ill, groups of
young people and Aborigines. These "undesirables" are now to be treated as
criminals.
The bill represents a shift in criminal law which normally targets specific
and well-defined conduct. However, "anti-social conduct" is defined
broadly, and includes conduct which causes "apprehension" or "alarm" to others.
The definition requires police to work out what is in the mind of the
public. They must decide what behaviour is acceptable to the broader
community and what should receive harsh retribution.
If a police officer believes that a group of unkempt Aborigines in a park
could cause alarm to a reasonable member of the public, then that group is
engaging in anti-social conduct by being in the park.
Without clarity, the law will provide fertile ground for ignorance and
prejudice.
The law will empower police to direct a person who is engaging (or is about
to engage) in anti-social conduct, to stop what he or she is doing, leave
or move away. Police may also confiscate property associated with the conduct.
Directions given by police become law. Refusal or failure to comply is a
crime punishable by a fine or six months' imprisonment.
The places where the new powers apply include footpaths, shops, schools,
pubs, railway stations, teller machines, parks, cinemas and private
property adjacent to a public place.
The bill also abolishes private property rights by creating a court order
to be known as a Place of Anti-Social Conduct Declaration. Once a place is
subject to such a declaration, its occupants have no rights: police may
enter at any time (with force), search without warrant, confiscate
property, and give directions to residents, visitors and passers-by on
punishment of jail.
The Police Minister, Mike Reid, claims people who engage in anti-social
conduct in their homes, will "forfeit the social and legal rights that are
usually attached to private places".
However, such treatment will not be meted out to most Territorians,
regardless of how frequently they hold boozy parties, argue with neighbours
or park on the verge. It is housing estates with a high proportion of
Aboriginal residents which are likely to be declared places of anti-social
conduct. For many, life under the proposed new law will be a return to the
mission days. For itinerant Aborigines, the new law means only one thing:
harassment.
With the Federal Government still examining a deal with the Territory over
mandatory sentencing, will this attack on the human rights of Territorians
be the subject of another deal or is enough enough?
John Sheldon is legal policy manager of the North Australian Aboriginal
Legal Service.
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