Deancm_MKII

Swearing to be made illegal in Australia (well actually Victoria). $240 fines for swearing. This really takes the cake for govt. idiocy, excessive PC-ness and nanny state mentality.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/bi...530-1fctb.html

Weebie

like it will ever be enforced.

brissybee

Bankruptcy here I come...

Not really (unless they install swear-cam in our homes) ... but it's going to give police a lot of power when dealing with difficult people.... and yes, that's going to raise a packet.

Deancm_MKII

It will be revenue rasing for the govt. A bit like speeding fines. Police discretion was taken away from Vic Police years ago.

How much money do you think this will rake in for the government?

irishbloo

F**k knows.

Swerv-o

I imagine that it will be public places only won't it? A bit like s5 of the Public Order Act in the UK.


S

brissybee

Actually, I thought it was already illegal... "obscene language" or something. I guess the difference is that they're going to be able to issue on the spot fines... and that makes it very heat of the moment easy for someone to cop a fine.

Swerv-o

There are similar provisions in the UK, under the Public Order Act, s5, though there is also a power of arrest there too. It was often used by cops looking to pick up some overtime on a Friday or Saturday night. head out into the town centre, 30-40 minutes before shift end, find some drunken idiot, wind him up a bit until he swears, warn him re. his behaviour, then when he [inevitably] swears a second time, arrest him and cart him off for several hours of overtime...


S

Scubaemma

Here in QLD we can issue fines (they are like speeding tickets) for public nuisance, and one of the types of public nuisance is obscene/indecent/offensive language.
If the person is really playing up and won't calm down we take them to the watchouse, but if they aren't acting up we can just issue them a public nuisance ticket. It means we can stay out on the beat and not be tied up dealing with things like that.
From memory if it's a language only public nuisance ticket it's $100, whereas some other PN tickets (eg disorderly behaviour, threatening behaviour etc) is $300.

Turban Explorer

There's no level of nanny state-ism here that would surprise me anymore. That reminds me - I need to register the cat - like some sort of paedophile in a council estate.

3 really irritating aspects of Aussie nanny statism: (there are zillions)

1) Came through quarantine the other day in Brisbane - took about three hours as more and more bored looking beagles were led to my backpack by a super-sized Aussie broad. A tiny bit of mud on my trainers was swabbed and analysed as I had been to Borneo (which is 'overseas' in Asia - if I had declared it as UK mud it would have been fine), 7 packets of Bisto gravy were checked that they hadn't burst on the flight and a mask from Borneo was almost destroyed but him indoors argued that it was sealed - hence as per AQIS regulation blah blah... (he is an expert on this stuff as we sail in and out of Australia alot). We all know AQIS is a thinly disguised excuse to take us up the bum when we do our weekly food shop.

2) You need a Tafe course for virtually any aspect of employment. It's a little like having to do a YTS in the UK to collect glasses in a bar or sweep up hair in a salon. Sadly this means plenty of University possibles default to perhaps less fulfilling jobs as they have the option of binning English and Maths in favour of nail technology and making pizzas.

3) Cheese, despite the extortionate prices, tastes like shite. Apparently this is due to the fact milk has to pasteurised to an inch of its life. Flushed with the success of sucking the flavour out of diary products Aussie manufacturers have done the same with tea, fruit squash and beer.

unfair dinkum

Rambi

I was wondering if you would pick this up.

Just to clarify the law on swearing has existed since the 60s but they're making it a fine rather than a court case. The mind does boggle that you can end up in goal for swearing but I suspect it would have to been really extreme (possibly racist) for that to happen.

lonndongeek

Hasn't point 3 changed now, at least for certain types of cheeses? I know that our local coles sells 'proper' english stilton (i.e. actually produced in the UK and shipped over). This is not to be confused with the deli across the road that sells "English Stilton" which is apparently a "product of australia" according to the really, really small print somewhere on the label :curse:

Food labelling laws? Who needs those, lets make it mandatory for toilet cleaners to do a Cert IV in bog cleaning before they can have a licences to clean up crap instead!

Cheers

LG

Turban Explorer

You may be right, I don't go near the Stilton or 'speciality' cheese in case breakages have to be paid for. Another comedy cheese thing is that if you go to the simpleton at the deli counter (probably Tafe level 4 student of the year) you can get slices equivalent to a slab of the same brand cheese for half the price. Once again, Southern Hemisphere economics ****s with my head.

From other threads I believe sausages have also had their flavour sucked out and replaced with ground up testicle and saw dust. I'm yet to sample Aussie sausage, or even a dual nationality one, so I can't comment.

slapphead_otool

I never quite understand how or why every discussion on BE ends up on food, quality of food or price of food.

Am I unique in not giving a stuff about sausages, cheese or curry? Is utopia the Harrods cold meats counter?

Maybe its just me.