Opposition to GLW mall ban grows

December 12, 2001
Issue 

BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE

HOBART — Two weeks after the Hobart City Council banned the distribution of Green Left Weekly in the Elizabeth Street Mall, the paper continues to be distributed there daily. As of December 9, there had been no arrests or fines imposed by council officers or police. Public support for Green Left Weekly's right to be distributed in the mall is growing.

On December 4, council officers directed four GLW distributors to leave the mall. When they refused, police were called. The GLW volunteers continued to refuse to leave and the police left in order to seek advice from a superior officer. They did not return. Later that day, council representatives told the Hobart Mercury that no action had yet been taken to enforce the ban.

That evening the council's policy and intergovernment committee met and decided to organise a public "consultation" on what activities should be allowed in the mall. The same meeting voted down a motion by council member Jeff Briscoe to grant a temporary permit to allow GLW distribution until the outcome of the consultation.

On December 7, GLW received a letter from the council that, for the first time, stated that its application for a permit had been refused. The letter stated that the "basis of the decision is that the mall is a place where commercial activities are restricted and has nothing to do with freedom of speech or the type of newspaper you promote". This ignores the fact that distributing GLW is not a "commercial activity".

The letter also states that "if you fail to comply with the Council's decision, [the council] shall have no option but to give full effect to its decision".

Progressive lawyer Gwynn MacCarrick has agreed to represent GLW in an appeal of the council's decision.

Public support for GLW distributors is growing each day as the council ban is defied. People continue to sign petitions and congratulate distributors. More copies of GLW are being distributed in the mall than ever before. Out of approximately a dozen letters to the editor published in the Mercury, not one has supported the council's ban.

Green Left Weekly urges all supporters to write to the Hobart council in support of our right to free speech. Send letters to Hobart City Council, attention Pru Bonham, chairperson of Parks and Community Services Committee, GPO Box 503E, Hobart 7001. Messages can also be emailed to <hcc@mailnet.hcc.tas.gov.au>, phoned to (03) 6338 2711 or faxed to (03) 6234 7109. Please send copies to Green Left Weekly, 225 Murray St, Hobart 7000 or <hobart@greenleft.org.au>.

From Green Left Weekly, December 12, 2001.
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