No frickin’ wonder. So what is this ‘annoying and inconvenient’?
The Angry Aussie has his summation, about recent news on ‘arrest over offensive shirts worn in Sydney‘:
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New regulations passed in NSW give police and emergency service workers the power to hand out fines of up to $5000 to anyone “causing an annoyance or inconvenience” to World Youth Day pilgrims. “We want to show our support to Sydney protestors whose civil liberties have been trampled by the NSW government,” stated Jason Ball, President of the University of Melbourne Secular Society and event spokesperson. “These draconian measures are a blatant attack on the right to freedom of speech.”
Lyn Allison, who recently ended her 6-year term in the Senate, commented on the state sponsorship of the religious event, “Australia does not have a history of debate and discussion about the appropriate interface between church and state. The current issues now provide an opportunity to start a real debate on the need for and ways of separating church and state. Other countries are doing this. Norway is consulting nation wide on formal separation. It is time that Australia followed suit.
Essentially, my friend who just went to Italy this week could probably do the ‘annoying and inconvenient’ thing in the country where the Pope resides and just get people rolling their eyes at her. Or filming her for YouTube.
Julian Morrow (lapsed lawyer, current Chaser) -- from the Sydney Morning Herald -“Crack Annoyance Squad Wanted”:
One easy way to identify a bad law, other than simply reading it, is to think about what types of conduct might fall foul of it. And it’s fun, too.
First, “inconvenience”. My preliminary list of things that could cause inconvenience to participants at World Youth Day includes being ahead of them in a toilet queue, obscuring their view of the Pope, or maybe just situating your convenience store too far away. Ironically enough, excessive security checks can also be a major source of inconvenience, as the citizens of Sydney may recall from the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit last year.
Then there’s “annoyance”. On pain of a $5500 fine, all mobile phone ring tones should be set to silent until the Pope leaves. All banks should drop their infuriating ATM fees in World Youth Day areas. And if being annoying is now a crime, Frank Sartor and Michael Costa should steer well clear of Randwick.
The point here is that the new offence is built on concepts -- inconvenience and annoyance -- which are vague, subjective and not sufficiently serious to justify imposing a criminal sanction.
From Youth Against World Youth Day:
Melbourne activists join the force of opposition to World (Catholic) Youth Day
Secular and human rights student activists from around Melbourne have organised a rally to oppose the $150 million in taxpayers’ money going to Catholic World Youth Day. The rally also plans to publicly condemn the Pope’s attitudes towards women, homosexuals, non-believers and contraception; a freedom now wholly exclusive to citizens outside of NSW.
The rally starts at 1.30pm on Sunday, July 13 and will be held on the steps of Parliament House, Spring Street. Student groups have organised the speakers, who so far include Humanist of the Year and former Senator Lyn Allison, Rationalist Society of Australia President Ian Robinson, Secular Party of Australia President John Perkins, Humanist Society of Victoria President Stephen Stuart and human rights activist Trent Hawkins.
And just so we additionally enjoy the moment -- the ever-classy AdamBuxton:
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The new regulation obviously exists to make sure anyone can be punished at any time for about anything. No police state is without such laws.
When they begin to punish people for ‘intent’, then you have thoughtcrimes, then you’re really in a police state.
stay tuned….
I fully agree with “Angry Aussie”! The domination of the Vatican in relation to World Youth Day is quite exploiting. I actually can not wait until it is over and done with.
Maybe a Bill of Rights is not required since Australian Law already protects individuals
Just needing somewhere to vent about the state of organised religion. World Youth Day is such a desperate attempt to keep a dying thing happening. It’s so full of hypocricy, double standards and complete fantasy. What a mess religion is in right now. Males are so petrified that their position in the church (and life) is under threat – yes! we see right through you – You are all bluster and no substance and about to be toppled, no wonder you make such a fuss. What is there to fear? Only fear itself. I’m so disgusted by Cardinal Pell’s attempt to squirm out of the situation he’s in right now, but at the same time, it’s wonderful to see the hypocricy revealed so clearly. What a total farce world youth day is. Religious beliefs are personal, nothing more.
I’m wondering more and more if there’ll be outright chaos. There’s a train strike at the moment too, isn’t there? People all converging for this tour?
What a loaod of predjudices pigs you are!
I am really angry that should read what a lot of rotten pathetic prejudiced pigs you are who run this blog.
Tch – a pilgrim committed violence! How embarrassing.
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