Rally rejects loitering laws

June 2, 1999
Issue 

By Nick Southall and Justin Randell

WOLLONGONG — More than 100 people gathered on May 29 at Allen Street Park for the Port Kembla Loitering Festival. The festival was organised by Illawarra Community Action for Public Space (ICAPS) to protest against a "no loitering" trial.

Under regulations being trialed by Wollongong City Council and the police, anyone considered by police to be "loitering" in certain areas of Port Kembla can be issued an on-the-spot fine. Signs have been erected warning of the new restrictions. One person has already been fined while eating a pie outside a pie shop.

Speakers at the rally included local resident Tim Anderson and Ariane Lewis from the Wollongong University Student Representative Council. Speakers pointed out that the restrictions are aimed at young and indigenous people and will not lower crime. After the speeches, 70 people left the park for a "mass loiter" on the main street.

According to Alison Marshall, community worker for the council's Safe Community Action Team, "the police approached the council about the Port Kembla trial and council approved it" despite objections from more than 20 local youth, Aboriginal and community groups.

If the police and the council decide the trial was "successful", the no loitering regulations may become permanent and be extended throughout the Wollongong region.

ICAPS was formed by outraged local residents and community organisations. Spokesperson Jane Cipants, from the Illawarra Legal Centre, explained, "People shouldn't be intimidated on the street, and should be able to use public space". Young people, the unemployed, Aborigines and the poor are already unfairly treated by the police, and the new regulations will make this worse.

The aim of the Loitering Festival was to draw people into Port Kembla to show that the way to make an area safer is to encourage greater use of its public spaces by all members of the community, not by turning it into a ghost town by moving everyone out.

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