Police harass Wilderness Society 'koalas'

Wednesday, June 8, 1994 - 10:00

Police harass Wilderness Society 'koalas'

By Bill Mason

"If the streets of Cairns are not safe for koalas, they're not really safe for human beings", responded Greg Sargent, branch secretary for the Wilderness Society, commenting on the detention of two women money collectors dressed as koalas by police in Cairns on May 26.

"What we are seeing in Cairns is a growing culture of intolerance", he said.

He claimed Cairns police questioned the two women in a police car, while not formally charging them, because of a complaint from the Cairns Central Business District Association.

The women had showed the police a state government "certificate of sanction" to allow them to collect money in public.

Police are still considering whether an offence has been committed under the Queensland Charitable Collections Act.

From GLW issue 146