Our nanny state is apping the ante
WHAT’S “anti-social behaviour” and who gets to decide?
Soon, the answer to the second question will be “anyone with an iPhone in their hand” and the first will be “whatever makes them feel slightly uncomfortable”.
Labor’s planned “dob-in-adrunk” smartphone app is creepy, unnecessary and will do bugger all except tie up our overworked police dealing with petty bullshit.
Ostensibly, the app will make it easier for people to report things like public drunkenness, vandalism, violence, break-ins or the particularly putrid and puzzlingly common crime of public defecation. Without a doubt, Darwin has serious problems.
But these things are all already offences and there are already plenty of perfectly good ways to report them to the authorities.
And of course it will come at a financial cost. The app is expected to cost about $500,000 to develop and operate. It’s a hefty price tag for a broke Government to deliver a redundant service. ON AUSTRALIANS PLANNING TO SHUN PETROL STATIONS TO PROTEST HIGH FUEL PRICES
There would that many people that don’t fuel up on any given day Nathan James
Not to mention the protesters would fuel up the day before the protest either way the servos are getting the same money. Henry Randomness
I wouldn’t even need to go to a service station for the next two days, and it’s not a boycott. I just don’t need fuel yet. Zoi Novello
Territory cops already struggle to respond to all the calls they receive through triple-0 and the non-emergency 131 444 number.
Soon they’ll be flooded with notifications about Peter next door playing his AC/DC too loudly at 9.05pm or the group lingering on the footpath.
In the NT in recent years, people have called triple-0 to
The most ridiculous part of this boycott was hearing on the radio that the announcer’s colleagues had filled up the day before in preparation. Strikes like this will only affect the target if we all start riding our bikes for a few weeks but that’s not going to happen. Alicia Smith
This will be like supermarkets closing for two days. They make the same amount in sales in the 2 days leading up to the public holiday (boycott) and the day after it finishes. But I guess better than doing nothing. Phill Cosmo
I’ll boycott Monday and Tuesday. I need to fill up tomorrow. Tim Whall report being too hot, getting locked out of their Facebook account and being frightened of the dark.
Making it easier to report loosely defined “anti-social behaviour”, without the hassle of needing to speak to a human being, will only mean more people call in frivolous concerns, including the apparent crime of being dishevelled (or Aboriginal) in public.
Labor member Scott McConnell pointed this out in Parliament last week.
“I read ‘ anti-social behaviour’ as code for ‘Aboriginal people’,” he said.
“I do not like it when that language is used and I will call it out when I hear it being overused.”
This will do nothing at all. Rather than boycott servos, if those 167,000 people actually do want to make a difference (which maybe 20 per cent will actually bother to follow through) they should call, email and write to their local MP, over the next 2 days. Swamp them with calls, emails and letters ... Doing this will get noticed. Trust me, from someone who has worked in this industry for over 10 years, this won’t do a thing. Couriers, trucks and fleet drivers will keep the litres ticking over, and people still use servos as a 24/7 shop. Craig Meff Can’t wait to fill up tomorrow for 90c a litre. Brenton Kelly
I will get my fuel from the small guys. Anthony Alyssia-Anthony Kelly
Not the ones where i worked, looked pretty quiet and they even admitted it lol Mitchell Smith
Suggest we boycott each major brand 1 week at a time. John Kelly
Petrol stations though are stoked with a spike in sales the days before and after. Norma Bush
I fuelled up last Sunday and my fuel gauge reads near full. I might be able to boycott another 2 weeks. Phil Twiner
...not much they can do about the low value of the $AU when importing every drop of petrol from overseas ... and a bit of price gouging.. Larry Oien
...because they don’t understand how the price of oil and Aussie dollar value moves? Luke Phillip ON AN ATTENTION SEEKING POOCH THROWING TOYS OVER THE FENCE TO MAKE STRANGERS PLAY WITH HIM
I’ve heard of throwing toys out of the pram, but this..... Chris Matthews love that there’s a mat there for him to lean on! Alisa Angel