A f#@%ing stupid law
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Ted Baillieu wasted no time in dragging Victoria back to the 1950s; increasing public funding for non-government schools at the direct expense of government schools, vetoing a Yarra City Council’s decision to set up a safe injecting room in Richmond, preferring instead to harass drug addicts with a higher police presence, and telling his caucus that they’re no longer required to acknowledge traditional custodians in a welcome to country. The latest throwback to the postwar era though, is particularly stupid.
The Victorian government has decided that you can be given an on-the-spot fine for ‘antisocial behaviour’, including offensive language, under the Summary Offences Act (1966), whereas previously, you would have had to be dragged before a court to be issued a fine.
I personally find it unbelievable that Victoria still has legislation against offensive behaviour and ‘obscene’ language. Being curious, I went to the legislation and found the relevant section (17):
17. Obscene, indecent, threatening language and behaviour etc. in public
Any person who in or near a public place or within the view or hearing of any person being or passing therein or thereon-
- sings an obscene song or ballad;
- writes or draws exhibits or displays an indecent or obscene word figure or representation;
- uses profane indecent or obscene language or threatening abusive or insulting words; or
- behaves in a riotous indecent offensive or insulting manner-
shall be guilty of an offence.
Penalty: 10 penalty units or imprisonment for two months; For a second offence-15 penalty units or imprisonment for three months; For a third or subsequent offence-25 penalty units or imprisonment for six months.
Six months imprisonment for thrice singing an obscene ballad? Jesus fucking christ!
The ostensible reason Baillieu gives for this move is that it would free up the court system by allowing police officers the discretion to hand down fines themselves rather than having the matter go to court. In reality though, no one currently gets charged for swearing because there’s bugger all chance of a conviction (as in the Townsville case discussed here). So this move just gives police the power to circumvent the courts and issue fines to whomever they deem to be offensive, according to the delightfully vague ‘community standards’.
Dee Madigan wrote about this yesterday, and as she points out, laws like this are used disproportionately and affect minority groups most:
Empirical evidence in New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory shows that laws which focus on offending behaviors have a disproportionate impact on juveniles and minority groups. For example, in Western Australia, Aboriginals are 15 times more likely to be charged for swearing.
If I’m subject to a law, I generally like to know how I can avoid breaking it. I know for instance, that if I refrain from killing anyone, then I won’t be prosecuted for murder. But how do I know if I’m being obscene if it’s ultimately the decision of an officer who might just be having a bad day? We’ve all got stories of cops abusing their powers to detain, search and intimidate using the slightest discretionary power – it happened to me twice before I was even 15. It might clog up the courts, but I’d prefer an impartial judge to decide what’s obscene.
But above all, the law is stupid and should be scrapped altogether.
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I’d argue that Baillieu is actually taking us back to the 19th century with the most dramatic charge towards social conservatism this State has seen for a very long time. I’ve expanded on it in a blog here: http://bit.ly/meaiwh
This is my favorite bit;
Any person who in or near a public place or within the view or hearing of any person being or passing therein or thereon-
Thats my lounge room they’re talking about! What the hell am I supposed to yell at the Waratahs tonight?
So my immediate thought was: Victorians better bone up on Shakespearian lingo to confuse the mofos when letting steam fly!
Please someone, help save those poor people with enlarged amygdalas! (http://bit.ly/fYmy2P)
… thats http://bit.ly/fYmy2P (?) ( Previous link didn’t seem to work )
Ted Baillieu = Extreme right-wing dictator and completely fucked-up moral entrepreneur!
The name Ted should now be substituted for Fuck, Fuckhead, Fuckwit, Fucking Cunt; and Baillieu for Bitch, Bastard, Bugger, Bullshit.
Ted Baillieu, your a Ted Baillieu!
Victoria the Police State!
What the????
So does this mean that I’ll never be able to hear Tim Minchin sing “The Pope Song” in Victoria?
Worst still, the legendary lamentation of altered states, “That Fuckin’ Cat’s back” is now a crime! Will Lord Kevin B. Wilson now become a fugitive figurehead for free speech alongside Julian Assange?
Re Andrew L: Victoria has the most repressive laws for any state in Australia, apart from the Northern Territory. Being able to be goaled without a fair trial is tantamount to practices carried out by many totalitarian regimes. Victoria has a long history of police malpractice. Back in the 1990′s, in one year, Victorian police officers shot dead 22 people, compared with 9 for the rest of Australia!
Forcing your moral views on any population, even if you have been given power through a democratic vote is extremely righteous.
Swear words only became foul or profane language during the 17th century with the publication of the Dictionary. Prior to this swear words where commonly used by all people. I personally like the word Fuck, as in Fuck off with your “What the????”. Its not my fault you are unable to understand the ramifications of such draconian fascist legislation, which attack the very foundations of free speech! Fuck comes from a Scottish acronym – Fornication Under Consent of the King. It would appear that Teddy thinks he can limit peoples speech and expression by not giving them consent to swear; neither allowing due processes or the right to a trial.
I am not a fan of what has become ubiquitous and pointless swearing. But to legislate against it is not just foolish, it’s quite futile. There would be nothing left to watch on television since in the last decade comedy has degenerated to “f***” word cramming competitions.
It’s a very interesting commentary on modern Australian society that genuine causes pass by unnoticed (e.g. action to slow climate change, a humanitarian approach to asylum seekers, unaffordable housing, etc) while the nation celebrates “International Whores’ Day”, “Sluts on the Streets” and “Defend the right to Swear Rallies”! All very bizarre really. There’s democracy and there’s chasing phantoms.
“writes or draws exhibits or displays an indecent or obscene word figure or representation”
SO I guess this means we’ll never see a retrospective of Gilbert & George’s artwork in Melbourne, with all their naughty naughty words and obscene figures?
So much for Melbourne being Australia’s art capital – in fact, fuck that!
So, what does this mean at Melbourne’s sporting grounds?
This sets a frightening precedent. So much for free speech.
Does this mean if I am in Melbourne (which is unlikely as I will be scratching Victoria off my holiday destination list) and reading Crikey on my laptop on the tram and some fuxxing wangker in uniform takes exception to my ‘SA Great’ bloody T-Shirt and peers over my damn shoulder at the screen only to read the posts from Paul Clifton, Fool, and all the you other fucking profanity-writing CUrraNTS whose arses inhabit the bloody Crikey pages, I am going to get an on-the-spot fine?
If I do I am sending all you wangkers, beetches, CUrraNTs and arsewholes the fucking bill!
When I am in Victoria can I say ‘merde”?
I am putting a speech translator app on my phone so I can swear in other languages when I am in Ye Olde Vic.
I really like the idea that “ted” become an insulting word for ‘fascist’. Example: That Pol Pot, he was a real ted, wasn’t he?
shitesherlock: google ‘shakespearean insult’ and you’ll get loads of websites with their own shakespearean insult generators. Thou venomed mad-brain pigeon-egg!
Fool: there’s a lot to talk about in your comments, but the main thing that needs addressing is that ‘fuck’ does not come from ‘fornicating under consent of the King’; it’s an indigenous English word and has cognates in Dutch and other Germanic languages, like fokken, ficken, etc.
And swearing predates the dictionary!
When I was at Flinders Uni, the Flinders University Choral Society was quite popular, but not as much as the Flinders University Canoeing and Kayaking Society. I sincerely hope the T-shirts are still issued, and that the interstate trips still occur.
Well somebody voted the CU@TS in to power. That’s what you get. Its good really, it might stop the Bogans in QLD voting the LNP Tossers in ?? Just point to their dumb laws and say , well they will do it here too.
NSW should start “Swearing Holidays in NSW ” to Victorians , who cannot afford to swear in their state. Have they listed the swear words ???
The biggest problem with this kind of law is that what makes something offensive is largely context based.
http://superlinguo.tumblr.com/post/6135619874/its-all-about-the-fucking-context
What with slut reclamation and this post I do greatly appreciate that Fully (Sic) is becoming our number one source for smutty language news.
Everybody now…
Stick that fuckin’ fine
Up ya fuckin’ arse
You’re supposed to fuckin’ help
Not make it fuckin’ hard
I just tried to make a point
But you’re just being smart, so you can
Stick that fuckin’ fine
Up ya fuckin’ arse!
there is a solution
http://www.cuparius.com/words/odd/swearwords.html
However all jokes aside, the inclusion of ‘insulting’ really broadens the scope of what you can be fined for and it will be very difficult to argue that what you said was not an offense if you are deemed to have insulted someone.
Where are you Billy when we need you to sing your cop-defiant “U Can’t go ’round saying Fuck on Stage” song.
Billy Thorpe way back in 1972 was arrested at the Mosman ( Syd) pub for saying fuck on stage … within a year he had written the song and performed it loud and proud as only Billy would, at Sunbury Festival to an audience of hundreds of cops ( and a few tens-of-thousands of delighted audience)
A rendition can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On3S5VCMtvQ
As someone who is interested in statutory interpretation (a law student) might I just point out that the alteration in the law will do very little as soon as the first two or three cases get to the courts.
The problem that the government in Vic has is that the whole of the statute revolves around a deeming by a police officer that a word or an action is ‘obscene’ or ‘indecent’. These matters have been judicially considered all over the country with much the same results. ‘Fuck’ is not an indecent word and no policeman can be held to be insulted by the use of the word ‘fuck’.
In other words – the statute does not prescribe any words that shall be deemed to be obscene (as that would be simply repeating a statutory impossibility tried elsewhere to no avail).
What the statute does is make illegal:
1 the singing of ‘an obscene song or ballad’
2 the writing, drawing or displaying of an ‘indecent or obscene word figure or representation’
3 the use of ‘indecent or obscene language or threatening abusive or insulting words
4 or behaving in a ‘riotous indecent offensive or insulting manner’
It is not up to the Vic Gov to provide judicial interpretation relating to what is an indecent act or what is an offensive or obscene statement – this is entirely in the hands of the judiciary – and the judiciary have spoken. In the Australian context an arresting officer must demonstrate that offense was intended (Daire v Stone (1991) 56 SASR 90) and they may have been actually offended by the behavior and demonstrate that any reasonable person in those circumstances would be so offended (see for eg Daire v Stone (1991) 56 SASR 90).
The judiciary in Australia are well aware of the nature of the Police culture in our country. and who will deny that any Police officer likely to find a word such as ‘fuck’ offensive would invariably find any average Australian Police Station to be an entirely threatening and offensive environment.
The judiciary in Australia are well aware of the habit of the Australian politician to engage in silly ‘law and order’ auctions and so sell out the civil rights of the populace at the drop of a hat – so be prepared for round two of this fight. A magistrate will impose a fine – a district court judge will hear and allow an appeal against this inequitable law and provide such a precedent as to make it entirely unworkable. The appeal to the supreme court will refer to the High Court judgement in He Kaw Teh and then scope the host of judgements relating to offensive conduct and language and then rap the vic gov on the wrist. The right wingers will roar and rant about an activist judiciary etc etc
and much fun will be had by all (except for the poor sods who are beaten about the head by the unjust law in the interim – and they are sinly those at the margins of our society so who gives a damn about them anyways).
jamesmmoylan Yes, true enough, its like a law prohibiting driving ‘drunk’ or ‘fast’ with no measurement but do you know if there are cases that deal with ‘insulting’ or ‘profane’ words? Like ‘christ on a bike you’re ugly’ frinstance
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