Amazing Australian Laws

Besides all the usual laws banning hard drugs, murder, theft etc, Australia also has some pretty unique laws found nowhere else in the world. Below is a selection of them;

Aboriginal payback

The Australian court system recognizes in certain cases the ancient Aboriginal tribal laws where offenders are punished for their actions by members of the victim's family. For instance in the case of a murder in 2002 in Central Australia, Alice Springs magistrate Michael Ward ordered the murderer be taken to Nyrripi, about 450km west of Alice Springs, where he would suffer traditional Aboriginal justice, or payback, at the hands of the victim's relatives who speared Webb no less than 13 times and also broke his ankle during a ceremony that was witnessed by police and health workers!

Anti-hooning laws

Hoon is the Aussie word to describe someone with anti social driving behaviour, typically under 25 years old driving too fast, making too much noise and doing dangerous and unlawful stunts. To combat this problem anti-hooning laws have been introduced giving police extra powers to confiscate cars of hoons, as this is what hurts them most, more than a simple fine to pay.

Beer can crushing

In Western Australia it is illegal to crush beercans between your breasts in the pub! A 31 year old barmaid who worked at the Premier Hotel in Pinjarra, south of Perth, ended up in court and was fined $1000.-

Bicycle helmets

In Australia it is illegal to ride a bicycle without a helmet! In the late 1980s a Canberra politician was doing a few calculations and worked out that a certain percentage of people in hospitals were there for bicycle accidents so if they were made to wear helmets there would be a few percent less injuries so the country could save a few dollars. It quickly became law throughout Australia but the Northern Territory resisted for some time to implement this ridiculous law. However the Canberra lawmakers were that hell bent on Territorians to wear the plastic helmets in their stinking hot weather that they threatened to withhold millions in road funding so eventually the N.T. gave in. Many Territorians protested and argued that it should be up to individuals to protect themselves, if the government wanted to save money on medical care they should also have sunscreen police on the beaches, posture police to check your chairs etc.

Bullet proof vests

In Australia it is illegal to own a bullet proof vest unless you have special police approval. The need for restrictions on guns are obvious but bulletproof vests could not harm anybody else and can only protect people, seems strange to outlaw them...

Cats and dogs

In october 2003 the Victorian parliament introduced legislation banning the eating of cats and dogs. Authorities apparently receive regular complaints of people eating cats and dogs but a recent report that somone had bought a puppy for the purpose of eating it led to this new law which also prohibits people from slaughtering any other animal not included in the Meat Industry Act as "consumable".

Cheese license

Queensland Fancy Cheese Products - a succesful 37 year old family business that has become an institution in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm was instructed to close down by the court in january 2004. Not because there were any health or safety concerns, and the judge even admitted that they were manufacturing a high-quality product, but simply because they were not accredited cheese makers! Never mind they had built a reputation over 37 years with high quality cheese!

Compulsory voting

In Australia it is compulsory to vote, even if you can not find any political candidate that you could possibly have any confidence in you still have to go to the polling station and cast your vote. As by this stage your name has been recorded as having shown up it now does not matter anymore what you actually write on the ballot paper as it can not be traced back to you so identities like Donald Duck tend to get quite a few votes even though they are not actually running in the elections.
After the february 7 elections in Queensland electoral commissioner Bob Longland said that many letters had been sent out informing people they had to pay a fine unless they had a good excuse. The ECQ collects more than $1 million from non-voters at each election. Many excuses were made and you could have walked across Moreton Bay for all the broken-down fishing boats but the best one of all was a woman whose excuse was that she was having group sex with 30 men in hippie-haven Nimbin, NSW, and could not get to a polling booth in Queensland on time to vote.

Crocodile kill

The punishment for illegally killing one of the Top End's 70,000 crocodiles is a fine of up to $55,000 for an individual and $275,000 for a company - or up to five years' jail.

Drughouse law

Your house may be searched by a member of the police force at any time without a warrant, anyone on the premises may be searched, every person who is found on the premises at the time a dangerous drug is found on the premises can be charged with possession of the drug, and anyone who is on the premises or within 200 metres of the premises can be required to provide a member of the police force with their name and address. Read more about it on Network Against Prohibition (NAP)

Euthanasia

In Australia you can end up in court for keeping an animal that is suffering pain and is beyond medical recovery but you can also go to jail for helping to end the life of a human being that is suffering the same pain. The Northern Territory introduced their famous euthanasia legislation in the 1990s to allow terminally ill people to end their suffering but the Federal Government in Canberra used their powers to overturn any decision made by the Northern Territory (as it is not a state and only has limited self-government ) and the laws were swiftly repealed.
One person involved in this situation was Philip Nietschke, an Australian doctor who became famous for his views that people who are beyond saving by medical science and who are suffering pain should be allowed to die, he pushed his views thorugh to the point where he assisted some people to end their lives and even invented a machine that produced carbon- monoxide that people could use to end ther lives but customs officers confiscated this machine when he was on his way to a conference in the U.S. He also wrote a book titled ' The Peaceful Pill Handbook ' but had his first print run confiscated at customs arriving back from the U.S. , later the Office of Film and Literature Classification cleared the book and he was allowed to print and distribute the book in Australia.

Cooking up a crime

In the Douglas Shire in north Queensland, roughly the area from Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation, it is illegal for guests in a B&B to use the kitchen, it is illegal for a B&B host to cook the guests dinner, yet the B&B policy states that dining room must be shared by host and guests!

Mandatory detention

Since 1976 people have been arriving in Australia on (often very unsafe) boats seeking asylum, and although Australia is usually a generous nation willing to lend a hand to those in trouble, the government did become concerned that this would open the floodgates and massive waves of people could flood the country, so they started to discourage people by making it mandatory that anyone arriving by boat without a visa must be kept in detention until his or her refugee application has been processed. In line with the National Anthem that sings "for those who've come across the seas, we've boundless plains to share" these detention centres are usually in remote places like Woomera in South Australia or Port Hedland in Western Australia. When protesters started to find their way even to those remote locations the "Pacific Solution" was introduced, where governments of Pacific islands were paid to have detention centres on their islands. A tally is also kept of the cost of detention and processing of these refugees and a bill presented to them on deportation, although it remains to be seen how many would actually pay this, one family that exhausted every legal avenue for three years managed to clock up a bill of no less than three million dollars!

Melbourne hook turn

If you're turning right at an intersection you would normally go to the centre of the road and, when there is no traffic coming from the opposite direction, make your turn. Not in Melbourne! At a small number of very busy intersections in the centre of Melbourne's CBD, where two tram lines cross each other, you have to pull over to your left, wait until the traffic light from the street you want to turn into changes to green, and then complete your turn!. If cars were waiting to turn right from the middle of the road, they would be blocking the tram lines, thus holding up a large amount of trams. To ensure the flow of traffic stays at a reasonable level, the hook turn was invented.

Nappies for horses

Horses could soon be wearing nappies on city streets to stop them dropping waste, if voted in by Melbourne City Council on Thursday 4 december 2003, the new rules will also ban horse-drawn carriage rides in the CBD when the temperature exceeds 34C.

No alcohol zones

To combat alcohol problems in Aboriginal communities some areas of Australia, in liaison with Aboriginal elders and Land Councils, have been declared "dry areas". This means no alcohol what so ever is allowed to be consumed or brought in, even if you are an overseas tourist. Stiff penalties apply to those who break the laws. Sly groggers, a name for unscrupulous people who try to make their fortune selling alcohol in dry areas at extortionate prices, often get fined, jailed and their vehicles confiscated. Still, some residents of dry areas have been known to drive 800kms to the nearest bottle shop or charter planes to pick up their grog.
You could also find that the only bottleshop in town ( and the next town 500 kms down the road) is closed because it is social security pay day, and authorities try to get the local population to spend some money on food for the kids before spending it at the pub. Argueing with the bottle shop staff that you are a tourist will not get you anywhere, rules are rules.

Early 2004 the 'Winegate' affair hit the news head lines, a minister for Aboriginal affairs had flown into a strictly dry area on Cape York with a bottle of wine aboard the plane. Indigenous Affairs Minister Liddy Clark made a trip on a government jet to the alcohol-restricted Aboriginal community at Lockhart River in Cape York in February 2004 but while the plane was on the tarmac there, a bottle of red wine was discovered on board by Lockhart River airport manager John Hardaker. Government media adviser to Liddy Clark Teresa Mullan had brought it along and was sacked but later reinstated by Premier Peter Beattie. After lengthy investigations by The Crime and Misconduct Commission and countless taxpayers dollars wasted nobody was charged as the tarmac of the airport was considered not a public place under liquor legislation. Tourists have also been fined thousands of dollars for having alcohol with them on their holidays, if you head this way check on www.mcmc.qld.gov.au or alcoholimits.qld.gov.au or ring 1300 789 000 for up to date info on restricted areas.
And don't think it is all a joke, penaly for a first offence is a maximum of $37500.- , second offence $52500.- or six months in prison, and third offence $75000.- or 18 months in the slammer, on top of that they may also confiscate your vehicle.

No bathing

Bondi Beach in Sydney
It used to be illegal to swim here during daylight hours!

At the start of the twentieth century a group of enthusiastic body surfers in Sydney managed to convince the government to overturn a law that made it illegal to bathe in the ocean during daylight as it was considered too indecent!

No ferrets

If you have a ferret as a pet in Queensland make sure you have a permit as under the new Land Protection Act you will cop a whopping $60,000.- fine if caught by the authorities.

No food to be brought in to Australia

When your plane lands make sure you have no food in your bags, do not even take anything left over from the plane food with you. Any food, seeds, plants, wood, soil on your shoes, etc. could potentially carry a disease or insect that could become a plague in Australia so either dump it or declare it as the fines can be high and harsh if they find anything on you. Some people that bring traditional foods with them when they visit family in Australia get very upset when it is taken off them but rules are rules and they are strictly enforced.
Dylan Graves, a Swiss student studying English in Western Australia, was fined $4,000 in a Perth court after having been caught hiding a 400 gram salami at Perth International Airport in November in November 2004.

No freshly cooked food at the markets

The Sunday markets in the north Queensland resort town of Port Douglas are a very popular venue, and one of the attractions was the food. Until one day the local Douglas Shire Council decided, in its infinite wisdom, to prohibit the cooking of food at the markets, and only pre-cooked food was allowed to be sold.
Now what are you more likely to get sick from, freshly cooked food or food that was cooked yesterday?

No gangsters at horse races or in casinos

In Victoria police can issue people they suspect of having links to organized crime with an exclusion order which prohibits them from entering casinos, horse racing tracks and betting rings. Breaching of this order will cost you $2000.- ,( peanuts for a real gangster really). In NSW the penalty is a bit tougher at $5000.- or twelve months jail.

No joking

In June 2005 it was in the national news that Aussie airports were now declared "no-joking zones", several people had been fined heavily for joking about bombs or other terrorism related things, and the public was warned not to make any more jokes in airports and on planes.

This came too late for Cairns student Patrick Carroll, who was in Darwin airport when he got a bit thirsty, so he left his luggage on a trolley to go and buy a beer. When he returned from the bar a security man was inspecting his luggage and Patrick called out to him; "Don't worry, I left the bomb in Iraq, mate!" He ended up in court, managed to be released on bail and had to come back in December 2005 to hear the end of it.

No marriage for brothers and sisters

Under the Federal Marriage Act 1961, it is illegal for brothers and sisters to marry but West Australian couple Kevin and Deborah Jefferies who are brother and sister by adoption, but unrelated by blood, are battling the federal law that prevents their marrying.

No marriage for public servants

Up until 1966 the Commonwealth Public Service had a ban on married women. Women that performed their jobs perfectly well were forced to leave their jobs if they married!

No mates in Canberra

On 20 August 2005 it was decided by the Australian government that the security guards in Parliament House in Canberra were to be banned from addressing politicians and members of the public with the term "mate'. This ban lasted only 24 hours, after which it was decided it was ridiculous and unworkable and the ban was lifted. John Howard said he had no problems with use of the word mate in Parliament and Kim Beazley said he insisted on being called mate.
Not much later it was decided in the Northern Territory Parliament that politicians were not allowed to call eachother 'buggerlugs', but the term 'dickhead' was still allowed.

No more beer wenches

November 2003: the NSW Gaming and Racing Commission Minister has raised concerns about women buying drinks at the bar for patrons at sporting events and the State Government is considering to outlaw this. Does the government not have something more important to do with their time?
January 2004: four beer wenches have been ejected from the Sydney Cricket Ground for selling alcohol during the fourth Test between Australia and India.

No musical instruments on the bus

In the Northern Territory the Transport Act says that it is illegal to play a musical instrument on a bus!

No nudity in Queensland

Under the Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act of 1931, public nudity is an offence in Queensland and a person charged with wilful exposure faces a penalty of $100 or six months imprisonment. But while governments around the world are relaxing laws in this area and other states in Australia have had clothing-optional beaches for up to 30 years, the Queensland government has plans to pass the Summary Offences Bill, which will increase penalties for wilful exposure to $150, or if the offence involved circumstances of aggravation, a maximum penalty of $3000 or one year's imprisonment! Nudist activists say that Queensland is missing out on millions of nude international tourism dollars every year.

No porn movies

Laws in all Australian states prevent the legal sale of X-rated films, but it is allowed in Canberra and the Northern Territory. That's why Brisbane porn star Jodie Moore sells her movies online.

No porn sites

When the internet was just becoming popular and the first pornsites starting to happen the Australian government, despite having relaxed laws allowing the porn industry to thrive in Canberra, decided they were going to keep this evil out of Australia and prohibited pornsites from operating in Australia. This was a futile attempt as now the pornsites that were already operating moved to the U.S. so Australia missed out on the income of these thriving businesses and Australians can still view these sites just as good as the internet is international and it does not matter where they are based. Around 2002 they finally relaxed the rules on .com.au domain name registration causing a frantic rush to register names that had been taken up ages ago as a .com . Within minutes of the new rules taking effect names like f%*#.com.au , sex.com.au etc. were registered, soon to be followed by sexpositions.com.au , tits.com.au and the whole range that Australia could have had contributing to its economy for years before that.

No purple houses in Wagga Wagga

In 2003 a couple in Wagga Wagga, N.S.W. decided to paint their house at 56 Best Street purple. The local council pointed out to them that it is illegal to paint your house purple in Wagga Wagga and has set aside $25000.- to take legal action through the Land and Environment Court. Does the Wagga Wagga council not know that in Normanton there is a purple pub that is one of the main tourist attractions of the town?
Luckily in 2004 the council and mayor were replaced by some new ones who so far have not dared to involve themselves in this situation. Local musos have made support songs that were played on local radio, and hundreds of people have signed petitions and letters of support so it looks like this purple house will be there for a few years to come.

No singing in Willoughby park

Heading down to the park in the Sydney suburb of Willoughby? Be careful, the tunes on your walkman might cause you to sing along, and singing is not allowed in Willoughby park, and rangers are on patrol to safeguard strict observance of the laws and will nip in the bud any attempts at criminal activity. And, as you can see on the right, singing is far from the only thing that is illegal in this park. 90 year old Alan Waddell, who has walked more than 2000 kms through every street of 143 Sydney suburbs, found these beauties, we borrowed these pictures from his website Walksydneystreets.net

No vacuum cleaners

Since December 14 it has been against the law in the outer Melbourne suburb of Brimbank to vacuum clean your house between 10pm and 7am on weekdays and 10pm and 9am on weekends, noisy cleaners will cop a $205 on-the-spot fine, which can rise to a $1000 court fine if it is not paid, and subsequent violations attract fines of up to $2000!

No water skiing at night

If you like nocturnal water skiing forget about a holiday to the Atherton Tablelands, (west of Cairns in north Queensland), here it is against the law to waterski during the night!

Nothing to be removed from National Parks

If you visit one of Australia's many National Parks, bear in mind you are not allowed to remove anything. this does not only mean you are not allowed to dig up trees but you can not even pick up a seed, pebble or stick to take home as a souvenir.

Pacific Island Labourer Act

This act was passed by government in 1901 to put an end to Australia's version of the slave trade that is so well known of America in its early days.When white settlers first started turning the landscape into sugar cane plantations they found it hard going in the tropical heat and honestly believed that white people could not work in such circumstances. While the Dutch were succesful getting Indonesians to work hard on spice plantations Australian settlers were not so succesful getting Aborigines to do the same (though they proved their skills as horsemen and workers on cattle stations). A solution was found in sailing out to Pacific islands and kidnapping people to bring back to the cane fields, starting around 1860 at least 800 ships had "kidnapped" at least 60,000 islanders and sold to Queensland sugar growers. Though officially they were not slaves the pay was that ridiculous that they could not afford to return home and thus had little choice other than to stay and work to survive. The government passed the Pacific Island Labourerer Act in 1901 to abolish this practice and by 1906 ordered their repatriation, though not all of them returned and even nowadays you can see dark skinned people in sugar cane areas that are not Aborigines but descendants of Pacific Islanders that decided to stay.

Pig Penalty

In Queensland you can be fined $30 000.- for keeping a feral pig as a pet.

Six O'Clock Swill

Up to February 1, 1955, the law stated that bars in Australia had to be closed at six pm! Much to the delight of drinkers this law was narrowly overturned in the Referendum of 1954 so pubs could now keep their doors open till 10.00 p.m.. Before then amused tourists used to watch Aussies knocking back beer like there was no tomorrow in a guzzling frenzy with drinkers being too scared to move from the bar for fear of losing their place and not being able to get their daily quota down before the bar closed! This frenzy was known as 'the six o'clock swill' .

Skippy-free diet

Up to the early 1990s it was in many Australian states against the law to eat kangaroos, now roo burgers are found in many places where tourists go.

Sperm donors

It is illegal in Australia to`pay sperm donors and it is also illegal to import frozen sperm and there is a limit here of 10 families who can use sperm from one donor. Also the NSW Government is expected to pass a law allowing people to learn who their biological parents were to end so-called "genetic bewilderment. This led to such a shortage of donors that the Reproductive Medicine Centre in Albury advertised in Canada in the sports section of Alberta's Calgary University student newspaper offering sperm donors a $7000 package of free return trip, accommodation for a fortnight and a daily spending allowance. An avalanche of emails followed from Canada, Russia and other countries.

Tasmanian homo sexuality laws

In Tasmania it was, up to 1997, illegal for two men to have sex together, even if they are consenting adults and are in the privacy of their own home where nobody can see them or be aware of it. The offence carried a 21-year jail term. At least Sydney can be assured it will be a long time until a Hobart Gay Mardi Gras will overshadow their annual festival.

Tasmanian prostitution laws

The Tasmanian government decided early 2004 to legalize brothels, before that Tasmanian law had never actually outlawed prostitution, but it had been illegal for brothel operators or pimps to live off the earnings of prostitution. So if you left it all in a saving as account or donated it to a political party you were within the law.

White Australia policy

The White Australia Policy, the policy of excluding all non-European people from the Australian continent, was the official policy of all governments in Australia from the 1890s to the 1950s, and the final elements of it were only abolished by the Fraser government's review of immigration law in 1978. Although the expression “White Australia Policy” was never in official use, it was common in political and public debate throughout the period.
Th e origin of the policy can be traced back to the 1850s when large numbers of Chinese came to Australia during the gold rushes. The Anglo-Australian population resented the Chinese undercutting "white" labour and by 1888 new Chinese arrivals were banned from all the Australian colonies. a "dictation test" was introduced as a device for excluding unwanted immigrants.
Immigration officials were given the power to exclude any person who failed to pass a 50-word dictation test in any European language.

Women's wages

At the start of the 20th century women were not paid very well but this changed in 1919 when women were awarded 54% of the national basic minimum wage for men, (assuming working women are single and do not need to pay for a wole family like men do).
In 1950 women got an even better deal when their minimum wage went op to 75% of men's wages. And in 1972 it got even more better when female public servants were awarded the same pay as men!

Do you know of (or made, if you're a politician) any amazing Australian laws? Then contact us!

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