Queensland, Australia bans SWEARING

[Weezer]

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/80/521/Australian_State_Bans_Swearing.html

Lawmakers in the Australian state of Queensland are proving just how upside down that country really is. Recently introduced legislation would allow police officers to issue on-the-spot fines of $100 AUD ($86.50) for swearing in public:

Premier Anna Bligh announced the new powers for police to issue on-the-spot notices for public nuisance offences on Tuesday.

Ms Bligh said the move would increase efficiency, save time and fast-track more important matters in the courts by stopping minor public nuisance offenders from clogging the justice system.

She said the measures, targeting offences such as public urination, disorderly conduct and abusive language, would save the Government between $18 million and $30 million.

The power to issue on-the-spot fines of between $100 and $300 could result in public nuisance prosecutions soaring 20 per cent, based on figures from a 12-month trial in South Brisbane and Townsville.

In 2008-2009 terms, that could see 5500 more people slapped with the offence across Queensland each year.

Ms Bligh said it was hard to estimate if the 20 per cent increase would hold true right across the state.

With the ability to arbitrarily violate a fundamental human right, increase revenues, and bypass the court system, this is sure to be a real win for police. I'd just hate to be the fucking guy who starts spouting off at a cop before he's had his coffee and donuts. At least some people in Australia see the folly of this type of legislation:

F---. BANG 100 bucks.

S*!# POW Another Hundgee..

Ok, it may have to be a bit more offensive than that. But are we really going to give every policeman in the force the power to take our money if they deem our language a tad naughty?

There will be regulations on what's naughty and what's not but until now we were put in front of a judge - an esteemed, educated enforcer of the rule of law - to decide whether we were being a nuisance or not.

By 2011 it will be Joe Blow everyday Mr Policeman who will be judge, jury and executioner.

Capn' Bligh told our reporter the new laws would increase efficiency, save time and fast-track more important matters in the courts.

A former court reporter for the Courier-Mail agreed, telling me in the newsroom yesterday people will prefer to pay a fine from home instead of fronting up to court for an embarrassing and relatively minor offence.

I don't know.

If I was drunk and disorderly, I reckon an on-the-spot fine would be unlikely to make me pull my head in there and then.

Pros and cons aside, you have to question a law which gives cops the ability to give on-the-spot fines for non-defamatory words uttered in public.

What ever happened to freedom of speech?

Good question, mate.


ITT: Rage.

[Obs]

Haha, Australia is turning into a fucking joke.

[ed miliband]

You can get an ASBO for swearing in public in the UK.

[GPDP]

It's like Demolition Man, only... Australian, and with less Silvester Stalone and Wesley Snipes.

Honestly, this is shit*BUZZ*.

[Adi Shankara]

Haha, Australia is turning into a fucking joke.

ha, didn't they also ban flat-chested women from pornography, for being "Too similar to children?" Australia is so right-wing, it makes America look like a bunch of old Bolsheviks

[HEAD ICE]

For some reason I thought Australia was more reasonable than the USA. I promise I will no longer stereotype Australia.

[it_ain't_me]

what the fuck constitutes a swear word?

[Obs]

what the fuck constitutes a swear word?
Any word that the bourgeois cultural hegemony deems to be one such.

[The Guy]

There goes the phrase 'Bloody hell, mate!'

[Headmaster Ritual]

Shit, how long do you think it'll be before they ban public farting or shedding skin cells?

[28350]

more like...
LAWstralia.
ahahaha. :D
I'm sorry. Please don't ban me. :(

Ridiculousness of the law aside, how the fuck are they going to enforce this? I mean, it seems a little impractical, given how much people swear on a daily basis (at least in the US).

[Veg_Athei_Socialist]

For some reason I thought Australia was more reasonable than the USA. I promise I will no longer stereotype Australia.

Agreed. This is absolutely ridiculous.

[Gegen den Staat]

Governments only damage their own cause when they do these things.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

You can get an ASBO for swearing in public in the UK.

Not straight away, they give you a verbal warning first in my experience. Unless the officer was transported here in the same 19th century time-warp the Australian lawmakers were.

[bcbm]

Haha, Australia is turning into a fucking joke.

turning into?

[Dimentio]

I think king Ardashir issued such a law already in the 240's. I don't know if it had any effect at all.

[gorillafuck]

That fucking sucks.

[Saorsa]

I am so ashamed to have been born in Queensland :(

[Bilan]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA
...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Everybody swears in Australia. Especially police. Jesus christ.
Anyone who lives in Australia who has been arrested, or questioned by police, will have been called a "bastard", or told to stop "dicking around", or something like that by the police.

Calling politicians, in parliament, a "bastard" is extremely common.
This is a fucking joke.

Incidentally, this is not a really punishable offence. It's akin to "J-Walking" (I don't know if that's what it is called everywhere else, but if anyone is confused, it means to walk across a street when you're not allowed to). In Melbourne, Victoria, you can receive an on-the-spot fine for J-Walking. That doesn't mean every time you do, a policeman pops up from the nearest drain, tackles you and issues a fine.

I should also point out to those making sweeping characterisations of Australia being "right-wing", one should note that this is Queensland, the most overtly right-wing state in Australia.
Australia is at about the same level of "right-wing-ness" as America.

And in addition to this, we don't have a legal right to Freedom of Speech.

[Bilan]

You should check your facts first, kids.


Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Anna Bligh

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Public Nuisance Ticketing to be extended statewide


Police statewide will be given the power to issue on the spot fines for Public Nuisance Offences, Premier Anna Bligh announced today.

The Premier said a 12-month trial of issuing infringement notices for public nuisance, public urination and associated offences had been undertaken in the South Brisbane and Townsville police districts during 2009.

“The introduction of a ticketing system for these types of offences was recommended in a CMC report on Queensland’s Public Nuisance Offences, which was released in May 2008,” Ms Bligh said.

“The CMC found that 60 per cent of summary offences dealt with in the Magistrates Court were offences of public nuisance and that 97 per cent of defendants either pleaded guilty or were found guilty after they failed to appear in court.

“Cabinet approved a 12-month trial of on-the-spot ticketing for Public Nuisance offences in addition to existing powers to arrest or issue an offender with a notice to appear in court.”

Premier Bligh said Griffith University had been engaged to undertake an evaluation of the trial.

“The Griffith report concludes that tickets are a cost-effective means of dealing with public nuisance offences,” Ms Bligh said.

“During the trial 46 per cent of all persons ticketed had no previous criminal history and only one per cent of people who received tickets contested them before the courts.

“The report also found the trial led to improved workload efficiencies for both the courts and police service.”

Police Minister Neil Roberts said public nuisance ticketing allowed police to spend more time on the beat responding to the needs of the community, instead of doing paperwork.

“Inappropriate behaviour in public places is simply not acceptable and police officers are encouraged to take a zero tolerance approach to public misbehaviour,” Mr Roberts said.

“The roll-out of public nuisance ticketing statewide will mean that no matter where you are in Queensland, if you’re caught doing the wrong thing you can receive an on-the-spot fine.”

Mr Roberts said the Griffith report highlighted Indigenous people were up to 14 times more likely to be dealt with for public nuisance offences and five times more likely to be ticketed than non-Indigenous people, but the overrepresentation of Indigenous people did not increase with ticketing.

“In implementing statewide public nuisance ticketing, the Queensland Police Service will focus on maximising the use of alternatives to enforcement action, where appropriate, and to ensuring that ticketing does not unreasonably impact on vulnerable social groups.”

Legislation to allow the statewide roll-out of public nuisance ticketing will be introduced into the Parliament later this year.

Summary of Trial

The rate of tickets issued was nearly twice as high in Townsville at 408 tickets for every 100,000 people than in South Brisbane which had a rate of 225 tickets for every 100,000 people
Public urination and disorderly offences accounted for the majority of tickets, together accounting for two thirds of all tickets issued
In South Brisbane, public urination was the most common offence, accounting for 58 per cent of tickets issued
Public urination accounted for 25 per cent of tickets issued in Townsville but the most frequent ticketed offences were disorderly offences (34 per cent)
Males accounted for 89 per cent of all tickets issued but the rate of ticketed females was five times higher in Townsville than South Brisbane
Rates of public nuisance notices to appear in court dropped substantially in both South Brisbane and Townsville (35 per cent and 30 per cent respectively) compared to 2008
Indigenous people were up to 14 times more likely to be dealt with for public nuisance offences and five times more likely to be ticketed than non-Indigenous people, but the overrepresentation of Indigenous people did not increase with ticketing
Only two per cent of tickets in South Brisbane and one per cent in Townsville were issued to people who were identified as having a mental illness
– in both districts this was also less than those with a mental illness appearing in court

link (http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=70201).

Long story short, the legislation already existed, the way that someone is punished has just changed. It is classified as a public nuisance.

It might be worth noting that, people not noticing this until now, signifies the insignificance of this piece of legislation (or perhaps, attempts by the Queensland government to make people more aware of it).
Either-or.

[Fietsketting]

Goddammit! :laugh:

[AK]

Ah fucking shit bro, the fucking politicians can suck my motherfucking fat dick. They're all good for nothing greedy dickheads and they can all fucking die. The fucking assholes.




How much would that cost me?

[Chambered Word]

Bilan was pretty much spot on. Queensland is the same state that saw Joh Bjelke-Petersen elected. Additionally I somehow doubt the cops are going to care.

Still, there are some pretty ridiculous things have been going on over here, like the ban on small-breasted women in pornography (like GreenCommunism said, you'd better not let the guy with a small-boobed girlfriend babysit your kids because he might rape them :rolleyes:).

[soyonstout]

It's called Jaywalking in the US too. Actually people usually only get charged with it when they're real offense was something else. Protestors and pickets sometimes get a jaywalking charge, an old cde also told me of a strike rally he was in that got busted up by the cops on trumped-up obscenity charges.

Although I don't know exactly what the status is of obscenity laws in the US (Walter Sobchak was of the opinion that "the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint")

In the US anyway, these laws are generally only there because it seems more democratic than arrested someone for assembling in a public place or speaking their mind.

-soyons tout

[Bilan]

It's called Jaywalking in the US too. Actually people usually only get charged with it when they're real offense was something else. Protestors and pickets sometimes get a jaywalking charge, an old cde also told me of a strike rally he was in that got busted up by the cops on trumped-up obscenity charges.

Although I don't know exactly what the status is of obscenity laws in the US (Walter Sobchak was of the opinion that "the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint")

In the US anyway, these laws are generally only there because it seems more democratic than arrested someone for assembling in a public place or speaking their mind.

-soyons tout

Pretty much, which is the same way that this legislation will be used. In Queensland, it's not unlikely that it will be used against oppressed groups, particularly the Indigenous community.
But anyone who knows anything about Queensland wont be shocked to hear that.


Ah fucking shit bro, the fucking politicians can suck my motherfucking fat dick. They're all good for nothing greedy dickheads and they can all fucking die. The fucking assholes.

Close to a $1000, I'd say.
But in reality, you're more likely to get a smack in the face for that. :lol:

Hell, I got smashed against a wall by two police for accidentally splashing water on them in the rain.

[Chambered Word]

Hell, I got smashed against a wall by two police for accidentally splashing water on them in the rain.

wat.

[Bilan]

wat.

True story. Jumped in a puddle, splashed an undercover cop. He threatened me, and then two of his colleagues smacked me and a friend of mine up against a wall.
we were then questioned.

[93'perfuck]

And of the two formost politcal parties we have in Ausralia, she represents the more 'left' one.

You really have no idea how nationalistic, racist, bigoted and ultra-right this nation is.

[Chambered Word]

And of the two formost politcal parties we have in Ausralia, she represents the more 'left' one.

You really have no idea how nationalistic, racist, bigoted and ultra-right this nation is.

Haha, and she's part of the 'Labor left', even with her history of fucking workers over: http://www.sa.org.au/australian-politics/2786-meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss


True story. Jumped in a puddle, splashed an undercover cop. He threatened me, and then two of his colleagues smacked me and a friend of mine up against a wall.
we were then questioned.

That must have been...interesting. :bored:

[AK]

And of the two formost politcal parties we have in Ausralia, she represents the more 'left' one.

You really have no idea how nationalistic, racist, bigoted and ultra-right this nation is.
Oh I do. I was reading the Herald Sun in my break yesterday and in some section where you can write any old thing and hope it gets published in the next edition, someone said:
"I think we should send all the asylum seekers back home to help us liberate their country."

[Bilan]

And of the two formost politcal parties we have in Ausralia, she represents the more 'left' one.

You really have no idea how nationalistic, racist, bigoted and ultra-right this nation is.

Don't be boring. We didn't elect the right wing faction of the Labor party. Australia is plagued by the notion that we are absolutely powerless, that our vote doesn't count (if we veer from the major parties).

In addition, all the major newspapers here are controlled by three major conglomerates, all of which are notoriously right wing; the left wing groups are, at best, irritating student hippies (our biggest left wing paper is "Green Left Weekly". Speaks for itself, really).
In addition to that, we are taught in school that we if don't vote for the major parties, we have wasted our vote; that no other parties other than the two major parties will ever win; that Australia doesn't have a history of radical politics, but we've always been timid and disinterested; and that we're the "lucky country" because we have never done anything to get the minimal freedoms we have.
All of which is absolute garbage.

Australian's don't have a stronger tendency toward right wing politics: we're just force fed it.

Also: As the world of the spectacle extends its reign it approaches the climax of its offensive, provoking new resistances everywhere. These resistances are very little known precisely because the reigning spectacle is designed to present an omnipresent hypnotic image of unanimous submission. But they do exist and are spreading.
- The Bad Days Will End, the SI.

[Obs]

Jumped in a puddle,
How old were you? :lol:

[Bilan]

15.
We were punks, what do you expect?

[Chambered Word]

Oh I do. I was reading the Herald Sun in my break yesterday and in some section where you can write any old thing and hope it gets published in the next edition, someone said:
"I think we should send all the asylum seekers back home to help us liberate their country."

I saw the same thing in 'The West Australian'.

It's scary as hell to think that for every letter published there are probably around 30 that haven't been published because they were way stupider.

Then again one of us could probably write up an educated piece backed up with evidence and they wouldn't look at it for five seconds because it doesn't sound like the average 70 year old's reaction after watching A Current Affair.


15.
We were punks, what do you expect?

:thumbup1:


(our biggest left wing paper is "Green Left Weekly". Speaks for itself, really)

Is it that bad?

[JacobVardy]

Isn't this in response to a court saying that telling a copper to fuck off was not an Offense to Public Decency? I'll check sources when its not 3am.

[ComradeRicardo]

It fucking sucks, I AM Australian, what we need is a revolution to clear these scum away, also, the political party that pushes for this sort of right wing bullshit is meant to be the leftist 'labor party', its a fucking joke.

[AK]

It fucking sucks, I AM Australian, what we need is a revolution to clear these scum away, also, the political party that pushes for this sort of right wing bullshit is meant to be the leftist 'labor party', its a fucking joke.
Labor split with the interests of labour a long time ago.

In a slightly related note, I stumbled across this excerpt from the Wiki article for the ALP - showing the futility and lack of choice in parliamentary politics:

Labor has at various times supported high tariffs and low tariffs, conscription and pacifism, White Australia and multiculturalism, nationalisation and privatisation, isolationism and internationalism, as has the conservative side of Australian politics.

[Chambered Word]

Labor split with the interests of labour a long time ago.

Only so far as the trade unions' ability to pressure the Labour party. While Labour is increasingly reliant on business for election funds they are still connected, albeit awkwardly, with the organized labour movement. It's still a bourgeois workers' party.

Still, it doesn't really appear as though rank-and-file unionists generally support Labour by any means. Julia Gillard gets heckled whenever she goes to make speeches at union conferences and the like. Hell, at May Day this year a guy from the NTEU - not exactly a hotbed of radicalism - was telling us to stick it to those bastards and keep up the anti-Labour chants. :lol:

[Hiero]

Pretty much, which is the same way that this legislation will be used. In Queensland, it's not unlikely that it will be used against oppressed groups, particularly the Indigenous community.
But anyone who knows anything about Queensland wont be shocked to hear that.


It is pretty common anyway. If you look up any acadamic work on the criminalisation of indiginous people in Australia alot of the offences that see indiginous people in front of a court are public drunkness and swearing in public or at an officer. The comparison of indigenous to non-indigenous is quite ridiculous and racist.

Indigenous are 42 times more likely to be in custody for drunkness then non indigenous in this article from a 2002 source. http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/thaliaanthony/2009/05/slurring_laws_will_criminalise.html

If anyone is interested check out some of the work by Chris Cunneen, he has loads of stats about it.

Police have some discretion when enforcing the law. So for alot of Australians if ot drunk and in the CBD and trip over and swear in front of a cop, the cop will probally not waste his time enforcing a fine or charging me. The act of swearing doesn't mean a cop has to enforce a law. With indigenous people it is more likely for them to be charged or fined under this new power.

I have been told, and I am not sure how usual it is, but alot of courts get sick of seeing the same people over and over again for minor infringments and just dismiss them without a second thought. A lecturer told me in a rural town he was doing acadamic work at, there were quite a few indigenous men in court for public swearing, and one by one the judge dismissed the charged.


Isn't this in response to a court saying that telling a copper to fuck off was not an Offense to Public Decency? I'll check sources when its not 3am.

I heard something about that. Some drunk guy called a cop a prick or said the cop was being a prick. The context was that they were at some festival. The Police tried to have him charged and the court droped the charge. I think the reason for droping the charge was that prick wasn't an offense to public decency and not a verbal assualt to the cop. Or if it was a verbal assualt to the cop it was so minor that the police shouldn't have been that insulted to cause the person harm. The basis was that prick was seen as part of common language in Australia and not a strong insult.

Alot of the time courts and the police don't see eye to eye.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

"Take away the right to say 'fuck' and you take away the right to say 'fuck the government.'" - Lenny Bruce

People can and do get arrested in the states all the time for swearing in public. It's usually classified as disorderly conduct or obscenity.

"On October 4, 1961, [Comedian Lenny] Bruce was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco; he had used the word 'cocksucker' and riffed that ''to' is a preposition, 'come' is a verb,' that the sexual context of 'come' is so common that it bears no weight, and that if someone hearing it becomes upset, he 'probably can't come.' Although the jury acquitted him, other law enforcement agencies began monitoring his appearances, resulting in frequent arrests under charges of obscenity.... A three-judge panel presided over his widely publicized six-month trial, with Bruce and club owner Howard Solomon both found guilty of obscenity on November 4, 1964. The conviction was announced despite positive testimony and petitions of support from Woody Allen, Bob Dylan, Jules Feiffer, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, William Styron, and James Baldwin – among other artists, writers and educators, and from Manhattan journalist and television personality Dorothy Kilgallen and sociologist Herbert Gans. Bruce was sentenced, on December 21, 1964, to four months in the workhouse; he was set free on bail during the appeals process and died before the appeal was decided. Solomon later saw his conviction overturned; Bruce, who died before the decision, never had his conviction stricken." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Bruce#Legal_troubles

That was then, this is now:

"ACLU lawyers reviewed 770 disorderly conduct citations issued by Pennsylvania State Police in a recent one-year span.... the majority involved profanities.... The lawsuits' plaintiffs are a pizza delivery driver briefly jailed for cursing at a local officer over a parking ticket and a Luzerne County woman cited by state police for hurling a derogatory name at a swerving motorcyclist. Pennsylvania's disorderly conduct statute carries a possible 90-day jail term and $300 fine. The woman paid $1,500 to fight the ticket, while the deliveryman lost $560 in wages and had to pay a $75 towing fee," - http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/ACLU.Swearing.arrests.2.1696924.html

A woman was arrested a few years ago for swearing at a cop in Pennsylvania. She took her case to the PA Supreme Court, which dismissed the charge. Any one who is interested can read the opinion here (http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/Supreme/out/J-230-98mo.pdf).

That was in 1999. As you can see above, arrests are still occurring. Under PA law, using "fighting words" which may provoke violence is disorderly conduct. Police officers, though, are expected to be able to have "bad words" uttered against them without responding with "unlawful violence."

[Chambered Word]

PROTIP: Sing 'Fuck The Police' while getting arrested. :thumbup1:

Lol @ arresting a comedian for swearing.