Humbuggers, longgrassers, and the right to beg
The December 4 issue of the Brisbane City News has an item on page 7 that highlights a recent campaign by the police to clamp down on beggars. Rather than taking a socially and ethically beneficent approach, the police have decided to arrest and charge those who create a "nuisance" by asking for money. The effect is to marginalise and imprison those who are least able to provide for themselves in this Great Society. Rather than helping, the current anti-begging law simply enforces the privilege of the wealthy, hiding the poverty that underlies the furniture of "success". In my experience, when a homeless/down-and-out person approaches asking for money, they tend to actually need it. Locking people away may hide poverty, but it only imposes a greater burden on society via the judicial system and prison. It would seem cost-effective, and more ethical, to simply provide a financial assistance package to the needy, rather than to process them judicially and house them in gaol.
A research study has highlighted stats released this month by the Queensland Police Service showing a 14% increase in the number of trespass and vagrancy offences, and an 11% increase in the number of good order offences dealt with by police in the last 12 months. Community workers who provide services to homeless people were unanimous in stating that "police officers over-used their powers of discretion to charge marginalised people with vagrancy offences". This coincides with the passing of the Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Act 2003 (Qld) on 25 November, establishing a new offence of 'public nuisance'. The increased powers will undoubtedly result in increasing the number of people who are criminalised for "offensive language" or "offensive behaviour".
This story is echoed by an item on the ABC news online site, which discusses a similar clampdown in Darwin. In this instance, the local indigenous community is making efforts to reduce the amount of "begging and humbugging" while improving understanding of the plight and/or lifestyle of itinerant or homeless aborigines. Their spokesperson also rightly points out that "... the wider community has no right complain about longgrassers if they are doing nothing to disturb the peace." That is, the simple fact of having homeless/itinerant people in one's neighbourhood is not in itself a social or law'n'order problem.
The use of "longgrassers" seems to be a particularly Northern Territory kind of expression. There is some good discussion on the terminology of indigenous homelessness and poverty here, (from the PARIAH anti-racism organisation, which seems cleverly to have adopted the domain name of their political nemesis). There is also an item on Indymedia regarding a 2002 protest by "longgrassers" that provides a good background to the social issues, and there is even a Longgrass web site!
Item posted by AutoEditor at 12:04 pm ::
