In August 2009, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre made a Submission to the Alice Springs Town Council in relation to the draft Alice Springs (Management of Public Places) Bylaws 2009.
The HRLRC considers that the following provisions contained within the Proposed Bylaws raise serious human rights concerns for persons in the Alice Springs community:
- the provision relating to controlled demonstrations, protest and other speech (cl 34);
- the requirement to remove graffiti and the ban on ‘offensive’ displays (cl 44 and 58);
- the provisions creating a number of public space offences (cl 49-50, 52-56);
- the provisions that criminalise begging (cl 57);
- the provisions that expand police powers, and extend them to council officers (cl 80 and 81); and
- the provisions that allow authorised officers to dispose of ‘abandoned’ items (cl 71)
(collectively referred to as the Provisions of Concern).
The HRLRC is concerned about the impact of the Provisions of Concern on particularly vulnerable groups in Alice Springs such as homeless people, young people and Aboriginal people.
Some of the Provisions of Concern contravene Australian human rights law, and infringe upon the implied constitutional right to freedom of political communication and the Commonwealth statutory right to freedom from race discrimination. Many of the bylaws also contravene other human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, the right to peaceful assembly, the right to freedom of association, the right to non-discrimination, the right to privacy, the right to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to life and the right to enjoy one’s culture.
Australia (including all levels of government in Australia) is obliged to respect, protect and fulfil these rights as a party to both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
To the extent possible, the Provisions of Concern should be amended so as not to infringe the implied rights of political communication, the statutory rights to non-discrimination, and human rights contained in international human rights instruments. However, in many cases the purpose of the Provisions of Concern fundamentally infringes human rights, and the provisions are not capable of being passed in any form.
