BY RICK MOLON
DARWIN — A boisterous 120-strong crowd met outside Parliament House at lunchtime on August 3 to protest against the recently passed Northern Territory Public Order and Anti-Social Conduct Act.
The act will empower police to declare any activity "anti-social behaviour", to confiscate any property associated with the behaviour and to use force to prevent it from continuing.
Police can also obtain a court order declaring a property a "place of anti-social behaviour", after which time police have powers to search without warning and enter at any time.
Critics of the act regard it as a deliberate attack on the mostly indigenous homeless population, often referred to as "long-grassers". The act also has significant implications for social justice activists.
The rally was planned to coincide with a senate inquiry into mandatory sentencing which was, however, cancelled due to the forthcoming NT elections.
Many "long-grassers" attended the protest. They were eager to tell their experiences about being moved on from their camps and having their belongings confiscated by council workers.
June Mills, a Larrakia activist, told the rally that the Country Liberal Party "have been getting away with anti-social behaviour for a long time".
Her examples included the continued mining of uranium, the lack of freedom of information laws in the territory, the eviction and harassment of Aboriginal tenants by NT Housing, the fact that there are no Aboriginal interpreters in Centrelink and the continued destruction of heritage sites.
Meredith De Landelles, the Socialist Alliance candidate for Wanguri, pointed out that while harsh prison sentences are given to poor people for extremely petty crimes, Chief Minister Denis Burke was only fined when he was recently convicted of contempt of court, a jailable offence.
Participants then performed street theatre, throwing long grass over people sitting on the ground. Parodying police and council workers, a "short-grass man" with a lawnmower pushed through the people.
The rally then marched to the Darwin City Council and occupied the reception demanding return of swags, blankets and bags that have been confiscated. After protesters were threatened with arrest, the rally marched to the Smith Street Mall before disbanding.
Another rally against mandatory sentencing and the Public Order and Anti-Social Conduct Act will meet outside Parliament House on August 17, the day before the NT elections.