The Motion of Laws (Naked City)
Image: Reddit
As you would have seen, following the horrific mass shooting at Bondi, the NSW Government has now introduced a set of new terrorism-related laws. These include restrictions on the authorisations of protests across a specified area for two weeks and up to three months, following the declaration of a terrorist incident. This gives the police a continued power to outlaw unauthorised public assemblies in Sydney.
The extent of the connection between the motivation of the two gunmen at Bondi Beach and the various pro-Palestine and anti-war protest marches in Sydney remains to be established – and no doubt that’s something the Royal Commission will examine in detail.
In the meantime, some people view this aspect of the new legislation as a harsh restriction on the freedom of speech and the rights of citizens to march and assemble in the streets to express their legitimate concerns.
Whilst there’s a basic set of long established laws and rules that we must abide by in society, governments of all descriptions are continually modifying, updating and often abolishing certain legislation altogether. It’s in the area of social mores regarding public morality and the consumption of alcohol and illicit substances that we have seen some of the more pronounced changes in recent years.
If you look back through the decades in Sydney, some of the older enforcements now seem totally ridiculous.
Right up until 1961, often burly beach inspectors had the right to measure the swimsuits of female bathers to ensure they met an arbitrary standard of at least three inches long in the leg.
Some fifteen years later in 1976, nude bathing was first permitted at Lady Bay Beach, and then in 1996, the State Government introduced broader legislation opening the way for other beaches like Obelisk and Cobblers to become legally swimsuit-optional.
In some cases, ludicrously outdated laws have remained on the statute books for years after their relevance has long expired. So called ‘public scolding’ was once an offence in NSW, and the specific crime of a ‘common scold’ was not officially abolished until 1995. Prior to that, you could technically be charged, for example, by verbally abusing your next door neighbour for allowing their cat or dog to enter your property.
These days, same-sex marriage is very much taken for granted — but homosexuality, involving sex between two men, was once a criminal offence punishable by death in Victoria right up until 1949, and not decriminalised in all Australian states until 1997.
Singapore has long been a popular holiday destination for many Australians, and is highly regarded for its cleanliness and public safety. Yet it also dishes out some of the most draconian and cruel punishment for misdemeanours and other public offences, that at the worst, would attract only a moderate fine in Australia.
We’ve all probably heard about their ban on chewing gum, with the import and manufacture attracting sizeable fines and even jail sentences. If you do manage to smuggle a few packets of P.K. or Juicy Fruit into the island nation, you’ll be pleased to know personal possession is not strictly policed. Spit it out in the street or leave the residue underneath a restaurant table and you are in big trouble!
And speaking of restaurants, ‘table littering’ has now been added to the country’s long list of public offences. In the interests of hygiene and ‘social responsibility’, you are expected to return your used trays and crockery after eating at restaurants, coffee shops and food courts. There’s a first time warning but repeat offenders face fines and even court appearances. Leave a dirty table with a wad of gum stuck underneath and all hell will break loose.
We can scoff and laugh at what seems very minor aberrations, but when it comes to serious crimes, a country of just over six million executed some seventeen individuals in 2025, imprisoning many more. In comparison, the good old USA – with a population around 342 million – executed some forty seven, the highest number in sixteen years.
And even for what we would regard as very minor offences, the barbaric practice of caning remains in Singapore — up to twenty four strokes across the buttocks with a rattan cane for ‘crimes’ such as graffiti, operating a scam, and foreigners overstaying their visa by more than 90 days.
Compared to countries such as Singapore, North Korea and even the USA, where ICE agents can gun down an innocent civilian, Australia doesn’t seem too bad.
Nevertheless, let’s do our best to uphold our freedom of speech and right to protest, along with our basic human rights – and chew gum whilst doing so!
