Councils affirm free speech

Pam Walker

Leichhardt Council brought the matter before the Local Government Conference last month. Councils across the state voted overwhelmingly to affirm "the basic right of all citizens and organisations to freely distribute printed material on public footpaths for distribution for political, community, charity and not-for-profit organisations excluding where they cause an obstruction"(when councils would ask them to move on).

The motion also resolved that "no individual or organisation should be given exclusive rights to distribute printed materials on public footpaths in return for a fee".

[Reprinted with permission from the November edition of City Hub.]

From Green Left Weekly, November 9, 2005.

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From GLW issue 648