Apartheid in Northbridge

BY ANTHONY
BENBOW

PERTH — The WA Government is again bending to the wishes of the law-and-order
lobby and the business community, this time at the expense of young people,
especially Aboriginal young people.

On April 15, Premier Geoff Gallop announced that a curfew would be introduced,
banning youth under the age of 14 from the popular Northbridge entertainment
area after dark, each Friday and Saturday evening. In winter, dark arrives
about 5pm.

Special police enforcement teams would patrol the area, with the power
to detain any young person until a parent or guardian comes to collect
them. The scheme is targeted at the many young Aboriginal people who spend
Friday and Saturday evenings in Northbridge, with no adults present. Although
Gallop describes the curfew as a “crime prevention measure”, it seems the
main “crime” is being young and black.

Nyoongar community groups, the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander
Commission and Mission Australia, none of whom were consulted about the
proposal and all of whom found out about it by reading the West Australian
newspaper, have slammed the proposal. Mission Australia representative
Anne Russell-Brown told the West Australian on February 16 that
some young people felt safer in the city than in homes where there was
family violence.

Noongar Patrol chairperson Neville Collard told the West Australian
that “the 'native welfare’ mentality is alive and kicking. This was a very
rude shock to members of the Noongar Patrol, members of my family and members
of my community.”

The Aboriginal Legal Service’s chief executive, Dennis Eggington, agreed,
saying: “I think the premier is missing the point if he thinks it is going
to be as easy as removing children, placing them somewhere and then waiting
for people to come and pick them up.” The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee
has pointed out that young people will be held in lock-ups, where statistically,
some of them are likely to die.

But the Perth City Council has given vocal support to the curfew — no
doubt due to its concern about keeping the young, black and poor out of
the sight of club- and restaurant-goers. A council election is in full
swing, with a swag of candidates jockeying for positions, and a fierce
battle for the lord mayor’s spot.

This savage approach has been tried before — and failed badly. In 1994,
the then-Coalition state government introduced a near-identical scheme
to remove youth from the streets of Perth, Northbridge and Fremantle in
the evenings. The plan had the provocative title of “Operation Sweep” and
generated sweeping community opposition.

The Fremantle city council banned “Operation Sweep”, and a range of
protests were organised, involving youth and community workers, and the
young people themselves. Many attended the peaceful “Reclaim Northbridge”
march, which was called by Resistance. “Operation Sweep” was stopped after
a few months. We must stop it this time, too.

From Green Left Weekly, April 23, 2003.

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From GLW issue 535