BY GARY MEYERHOFF
DARWIN — The Northern Territory's draconian Public Order and Anti-Social Conduct Act may soon be repealed by the NT Labor government. Pippa Rudd, spokesperson for NT Attorney-General Peter Toyne, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly on January 24 that the government was looking at repealing the legislation. Rudd also told GLW that the act would be replaced by "drug house legislation".
The public order legislation was introduced into the NT parliament on June 7. Under the legislation, police have the power to stop just about any behaviour they deem "anti-social" and enter premises designated as "anti-social" without a search warrant.
A number of demonstrations against the legislation were held outside parliament involving the Socialist Alliance, the Top End Users' Forum, the Longgrass Association, the Greens and others. They were the largest demonstrations in Darwin for some time.
In the July 5 Sydney Morning Herald, John Sheldon, then policy officer at the Northern Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service argued: "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."
The legislation's expected repeal will be a major breakthrough for many of the Northern Territory's most vulnerable. Unfortunately, however, it is being overshadowed by the threat of "drug house legislation" which could as bad, or worse, as the existing legislation.
Labor's policy document Building a safer community: tough on drugs states: "Labor will introduce similar laws to those in NSW, allowing police to crackdown on 'drug houses' and other centres of supply such as nightclubs."
The NSW legislation is widely opposed by civil-rights activists, because it gives police the power to harass young people merely on the suspicion that they are carrying drugs.
Co-convenor of the NT Socialist Alliance Ruth Ratcliffe told GLW: "We didn't fight against the public order act in order for it to be replaced with equally punitive legislation. The NT government needs to distance itself from the previous government's 'zero tolerance' stance on the drug issue rather than embracing it."
NT Labor's drug house plan is part of a three-point plan on illicit drugs that includes compulsory treatment of drug users who are convicted of an offence and doubling the size of the drug squad from 20 to 40 officers. The NT is the only state or territory in Australia without an operational methadone program.
If you would like to express your concern at the NT's illicit drug policy, email <minister.aagaard@nt.gov.au> and <minister.toyne@nt.gov.au>. Please send a copy to <darwin@greenleft.org.au>.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, January 30, 2002.
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