Network Against Prohibition (NAP) - NT Chapter

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The offending poster
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Syringe Festival posters targeted by police


On the 26th of August 2003, in a blatant attack on freedom of speech in the Northern Territory, police arrested two drug law-reform campaigners and charged them with two counts each of criminal damage. The campaigners were alleged to have affixed posters advertising the 2nd Darwin International Syringe Festival, an event held in Darwin in September that year.

Michael Barry and Gary Meyerhoff, both members of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition (NAP), were stopped by police in suburban Parap at 1am. Despite reports on the police radio of a baseball bat wielding bandit around the corner, the pair were placed in the back of a police van and conveyed to the Berrimah watchhouse.

After spending an hour in the cells, the pair was released with the condition of bail being that they did not leave their place of residence between the hours of 10pm and 6am.

At the time, Gary said: "we were targeted simply because of the nature of the posters. The police find the syringe festival offensive and at the same time are doing everything they can to put NAP members behind bars."

While at the Darwin Magistrate’s Court on September 1, 2003, Gary and Micky tried to get this new file – two counts each of criminal damage - before the court to remove the 10pm to 6am curfew. Court staff didn’t have the file so the pair went to the Department of Public Prosecutions, whose staff claimed they didn't have the file either.
 
The pair then attended the office of the NT Ombudsman where they were told that they would have to go to the Peter Macauley Centre - Police HQ in Berrimah - to ask the police to vary the bail. Gary went back to the Magistrates Court and managed to get the case brought up before relief magistrate Alisdair McGregor at about 4pm, the last case of the day in court 1.
 
Confusion reigned. The prosecution didn't have a file and the court didn't have a file, but Gary had the bail papers he had received from the police. Because the prosecution didn't have a file, Mr McGregor dismissed the charge. He advised Gary to "run fast so the police don't find the file and come after you!" But he then recanted and, handing Gary back his bail papers, told him to come back to court the next day at 10am.

The next day, Micky and Gary again tried to make an application to amend the bail conditions. Their application was to remove the curfew. McGregor refused to hear the bail application.

After suffering the 10pm curfew for nearly three weeks, Micky and Gary went back to court to find that the police were dropping the criminal damage charges. This ended the curfew that had been imposed upon them.


Darwin City Council opens a new front in the war on dissent

It wasn't over there. A few days’ later, Gary and Micky were issued with infringement notices by Darwin City Council for “affixing a handbill to a pole without a permit”, a breach of section 97 of the DCC by-laws, punishable by a maximum $2000 fine.

Gary elected to have this matter dealt with by the courts and on October 28, 2004, he was found guilty by Magistrate Anthony Gillies.
 
Gary appealed this decision to the NT Supreme Court, claiming that section 97 of the DCC By-Laws breached his right to freedom of speech, as implied by the Australian Constitution. On April 5, 2005, Gary appeared before Southwood J who dismissed the appeal a day later.
 
While handing down his decision, the judge said: “the By-laws do burden freedom of communication about a government or political matter… however, a mere restriction of the freedom of communication is not sufficient to invalidate the by-laws," he said.
 
He did refuse the application for costs made by law firm Cridlands on behalf of the DCC, saying that the case was “public interest litigation”.
 

The war on bill-pasting

“It may be a different matter if the prosecution had charged simply "bill posting" under the Summary Offences Act in this type of situation. All that would need to be proved is the intent to post the bills. On a finding of guilt, appropriate orders of restitution or compensation could be made that compensates for the very real nuisance this behaviour brings on the public.”
- Magistrate Jenny Blokland, March 7, 2003


NAP formed in March 2002 as a community response to the draconian ‘drug house’ legislation. As a grass-roots organisation with very limited funds, NAP rely upon low-cost methods of getting their messages about the urgent need for drug law-reform and about human rights violations in the NT and beyond to Joe Public.
 
These methods include holding community rallies, running a website and email list, writing letters to the editors of various newspapers, distributing leaflets and fliers, calling talkback radio, distributing media releases and conducting interviews with the media and sticking up posters, known to the authorities as ‘pasting bills’.
 
Many of NAP’s activities have been targeted by the NT police. The art of ‘pasting bills’ has received a significant amount of police attention.
 
By the time Micky and Gary were charged for criminal damage in August 2003, NAP members had been charged with more than thirty counts of criminal damage, all for ‘pasting bills’. These criminal damage charges included charges for affixing bills to a Wastemaster bin, the footpath and wait for it, a median strip.

The police also unsuccessfully prosecuted Gary for “offensive behaviour in a public place”. This charge related to the display of a poster in the Smith Street Mall.
 
In all cases, the charges were either dropped by the prosecution or the NAP member involved was found not guilty of the offence. One case, involving Gary, made it to the hearing stage, but Magistrate Jenny Blokland found him not guilty.
 
Blokland found that affixing a poster to a windbreak did not constitute criminal damage per the definition found in the NT Criminal Code. She said: “I am of the view that putting up posters is not necessarily prima facie criminal damage. In legal theory it could be criminal damage, but it may not be”.
 
She did say however: “It may be a different matter if the prosecution had charged simply "bill posting" under the Summary Offences Act in this type of situation. All that would need to be proved is the intent to post the bills. On a finding of guilt, appropriate orders of restitution or compensation could be made that compensates for the very real nuisance this behaviour brings on the public.”
 
It was not until late 2003 that the Darwin City Council (DCC) used the charge of “affixing a bill to a pole without a permit”.
 
Since then, the NAP team have established that this is the first time that anyone has been charged with this offence. On June 8, 2004, NAP wrote to the DCC to request a permit to affix handbills to poles around the City of Darwin. This request was denied.*
 
The DCC has never issued a permit for this purpose.
 

*DCC appoints an officer who has responsibility for approving permits for posters and handbills. This person has the final say, although the decision can be reviewed by the Local Government Review Tribunal.
 
Footnote: Gary already faces 5 months jail for his part in the peaceful entry into the NT Legislative Assembly last year. This matter is on appeal and is due to go before the full bench of the NT Supreme Court early in 2006.


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The Law

Darwin City Council By-Laws at July 20, 2005

Division 4 – Handbills

Section 97. Handbills

(1) It is an offence committed by a person for that person, without a permit, in or on a public place –

(a) to give out or distribute a handbill; or

(b) to affix or cause to be affixed a handbill to a power pole, signpost or fixture in a street.

(2) It is a condition of a permit to affix a handbill that the holder shall –

(a) ensure that the handbill is preserved in a clean and tidy condition;

(b) remove the handbill if it becomes worn, torn or detached; and
 
(c) remove any waste or litter from the area.

(3) It is an offence committed by a person for that person, without a permit and the consent of the owner or occupier of land adjoining a public place, to affix or cause to be affixed a handbill to or against a structure on the land.

(4) Where an authorised person is of the opinion that a handbill is dirty, untidy, worn, torn or detached, the authorised person may, whether or not a permit has been granted or the consent of the owner or occupier of the land obtained in relation to affixing the handbill, give notice in accordance with by-law 10 to –

(a) the owner or occupier of the building where the handbill is posted; or

(b) the person responsible for authorising the production of the handbill, requiring remedial action or the removal of the handbill.

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The offending poster




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Updates




Outline of submissions and list of authorities submitted by Gary Meyerhoff - September 20, 2005

New hearing date set - September 03, 2005

August 25 hearing vacated - August 23, 2005

Mention today at the Supreme Court - August 23, 2005

Full bench appeal: Date change - August 4, 2005

Bill-pasting decision now online - April 6, 2005

Billpasting appeal dismissed - April 6, 2005

Billpasting appeal adjourned - March 23, 2005

Today's court case may not go ahead - March 23, 2005

NAP events this week - October 10, 2004

Gary Meyerhoff is in court today - June 11, 2004

No bail for Micky or Gary - September 2, 2003

Busy day for NAP legal team - September 1, 2003

Micky and Gary arrested for billpasting - August 26, 2003


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NAP media alerts

New blow, as judicial assault on free speech continues
April 6, 2005

Justice Southwood to deliver ‘billpasting’ decision today
April 6, 2005

For Napatistas, 2005 looms as another year of court cases
December 16, 2004

Freedom of speech under attack in Darwin Magistrate’s Court
June 11, 2004

Syringe Festival Posters Targetted by Police
August 26, 2003



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Latest news reports on Gary's case

Ex-Grimsby man faces Aussie Court
Grimsby Evening Telegraph - April 27, 2005

Billpasting is not a crime
Green Left Weekly - November 3, 2004

Dope permits
Northern Territory News - April 17, 2004

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Contact Gary


Gary can be contacted by email. Alternatively you can contact the NAP team.

Letters of solidarity and support will be much appreciated. Snail mail can be sent to the following postal address:

Billpaster
C/- NAP
PO Box 701
Parap, NT 0804
Australia



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