Begging and protests outlawed in Alice

The Alice Springs council will fine beggars $130 following new bylaws passed on July 20. The new bylaws also banned camping, lighting fireworks and holding protests without a permit.

The council's Director of Corporate and Community Services, Craig Catchlove told ABC Online on July 21: "The bottom line is we don't want people begging in this town and there needs to be some way of stopping the practice"

The Northern Territory has the highest rates of homelessness in the country, with five times the national average of people every night without accommodation, according to census figures reported in the July 9 ABC Online.

"It is difficult to understand what will be achieved by fining people who have to resort to begging in the first place," said NT Council of Social Services policy officer Jonathan Pilbrow on July 22.

"We must work to address the underlying causes of poverty and disadvantage, rather than further punish those who are already doing it tough. Criminalising social problems is a cop-out."

Laws banning so-called unlawful protests would target anti-nuclear campaigners, such as Families For A Nuclear-Free Future, who have held spontaneous actions against nuclear mining and waste in Alice Springs.

From GLW issue 804