garywmeyerhoffmedia

Cannabis

2006-03-15T18:28:00.000+09:30

In his attack on Liberal Party anti-drugs policy, Gary Meyerhoff (Write On, GLW #656) contends that “despite claims by some mental health professionals that some pre-existing mental illnesses can be exacerbated or 'brought on’ by marijuana use, the evidence that supports this is extremely dubious”. I fear this is an instance of sloppy arguments serving a good cause.

While the level of psychiatric illness caused or exacerbated by cannabis is greatly exaggerated by many psychiatrists and politicians, not least John Howard in his recent COAG speech, this does not mean that the negative health effects of the drug are always “negligible”.

Gary mentions a study that shows the overall prevalence of schizophrenia has not increased in Australia over 30 years, despite a large increase in marijuana use. But this only proves that there is no simple causal link between the two. Recent Australian reviews of the issue (such as in the latest issue of the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry) suggest the picture is much more complex than this.

Cannabis use is part of a dynamic set of risk factors that can contribute to various mental disorders. In the case of drug-induced psychosis or cannabis withdrawal syndrome, the connection is obvious. But in mood disorders and schizophrenia it is an additive in a complex web of causation. In particular, there is compelling evidence that heavy use of marijuana can affect the brain during key stages of adolescent development, when it is most vulnerable to environmental insults (whether chemical, psychological or social).

None of this is to suggest that anything other than decriminalisation and safe legal supply are sensible policies. But they need to be accompanied by honest discussion of both benefits and risks — something made more difficult by the polarised debate engendered by the current regime of criminal sanctions.

Dr Tad Tietze
Alexandria, NSW

This letter to the editor was published in the March 15, 2006 edition of the Green Left Weekly newspaper.

Darwin gets seditious

2006-02-08T07:23:00.000+09:30

More than 40 people gathered at the “Let’s get seditious” forum at Groove Cafe on January 28, to hear from speakers challenging the federal Coalition government’s new anti-sedition laws.

Anti-war campaigner Emma King spoke about the history of sedition laws and their use in Australia, explaining how the broadening of the definition of sedition will widen the scope for the targeting of anti-war and other political activists.

A range of local activists contributed their seditious ideas to the forum, including long-time solidarity activist Rob Wesley Smith, who described PM John Howard in colourful language before burning a letter bearing Howard’s signature.

Socialist Alliance member Jon Lamb argued that the real intention behind the new laws is to “break solidarity” in the face of growing attacks on working people and the poor. He pointed out the increasing disparity of wealth in Australia, with the average CEO now earning 63 times the average worker’s wage. “Today, 51 of the leading CEO’s in the country have an average weekly salary of $65,000”, Lamb told the forum. He pointed out that the Howard government’s new industrial relations laws “are about increasing the disparity between ordinary workers and those who exploit them”.

Gary Meyerhoff from the Network Against Prohibition spoke about the Northern Territory sedition laws, which were used to convict activists who held a peaceful protest in the NT parliament against repressive drug laws in 2002. He spoke of the connection between the “war on drugs” and the “war on terror” — both of which are aimed at creating a “climate of fear”.

The forum also heard from Stuart Highway, who was recently released from Berrimah prison where he served a three-month sentence for a conviction arising from a drug law reform protest. He spoke of the inhumane treatment of prisoners as a form of control of the broader community. “They’ve already got a totalitarian regime”, he said. “It’s called prison, where they’ve been refining the methods of control and thought control for centuries. They treat prisoners like animals.”

Anti-war activist Karen Davies highlighted the 2003 amendments to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Safeguards) Act, which criminalise the communication of information that could “prejudice the physical security of nuclear material, or an associated item”. Davies pointed out that this would make it a crime to plan protests against the shipment of nuclear materials such as radioactive waste from the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney.

This article, written by Kathy Newnam, was published in the Green Left Weekly on Wednesday, February 8, 2006.

Thoughts for the condemned

2005-12-23T07:23:00.000+09:30

TACK METTA spends a troubled night thinking of an execution hundreds of kilometres away

THE RINGING tone of a passing remark echoes in your ear: 'Spare a thought for your brother…'

Your mind doesn't stop to ponder the source of the words; rather it does a fast forward and focuses on the words 'spare a thought…'

Like the vibrations of a tuning fork tapering off towards total silence, the attention of your mind lingers on the sound as it does a balancing act on the thin line between wakefulness and sleep.

The night is hot and humid, abuzz with mosquitoes as they buzz around the room in excited eagerness to sting, a behaviour perhaps prompted by the new rains.

Instructions from the mind tell you the night is ripe for tossing and turning and a slumber that would afford you no rest at all tonight.

A small part of your mind interprets that to mean that this rest will be the type that enables you to close you eyes and drift off into the early phases of rapid eye movement (REM), but which fails miserably to stop the mind from shutting off altogether and sinking into oblivion - the final phase of REM, as it were.

The grim thought of death lingered, or more precisely wafted like a mist in front of your mind's eye, as if mocking you.

You will your mind to rid its confines of the macabre thoughts but in the process, a small part of your mind intensifies the scenario and a face takes shape in the darkness. With its formation comes the static of squeaky voices and somber music, the latter sounding more like a dirge.

It seems you were not only sparing a thought for your brother but more, living a part of him.

The thought had come upon you at work yesterday when you read the headline and the news:

SINGAPORE, Nov 30 AFP - Singapore's prime minister has dismissed calls to save a young Australian drug runner from imminent hanging despite condemnation from international human rights groups.

As the deadline for Nguyen Tuong Van's execution on Friday draws near, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made it clear the city-state would go ahead with the hanging.

Lee, currently in Europe, told French newspaper Le Figaro that the death penalty "is necessary and is part of the criminal justice system," rejecting claims that executing people for non-violent crimes is out of date and inhuman.

"We also think that drug trafficking is a crime that deserves the death penalty.

The evil inflicted on thousands of people with drug trafficking demands that we must tackle the source by punishing the traffickers rather than trying to pick up the pieces afterwards," he said. "It's a law which is approved of by Singapore's inhabitants and which allows us to reduce the drug problem."

By last night, Nguyen, a Vietnamese-born Australian citizen would have gone through the last rites and by the time you read about this morning, Nguyen would have already paid the ultimate price for drug trafficking.

You did not just spare him a thought; you gave it plenty of thought. You thought of his own thoughts as the clock ticked away; you thought of the effort or lack of it to save him from the gallows; you thought of his family and the individual thoughts of the family members before and after, especially those of the mother who was about to lose her son; you thought of the efforts made by leaders and concerned individuals and organizations to save Nguyen from the gallows and you thought of all the arguments for and against the decision to hang Nguyen.

As an afterthought, you thought about the thoughts of Nguyen and his twin brother - whether their thoughts were the same and on the same wavelength and whether they were identical or otherwise and if one's death would make a difference on the life of the other.

Nguyen, acted as a mule for a drug smuggling syndicate to earn the money to pay for his twin brother's legal fees over a drug abuse case.

The thought you spared developed into a multiplicity of emotions and debate on a highly sensitive subject.

Be that as it may, at the end of the anxiety, stress and emotions that befit such occasions, you aren't the only one sparing a thought for the condemned.

Melbourne Indymedia, a website produced by grassroots media makers offering non-corporate coverage of struggles, actions and celebrations filed a number of people's thoughts on the issues.

Here's an edited thought of Darwin-based freelance journalist Gary Meyerhoff:
"I remember back when I was eleven years old. I was at a friend's place and like most Australian homes the television was blaring constantly in the background. I vividly remember stopping to watch a report that Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers had been executed and I remember a horrible feeling as I tried to make sense of what had just happened.

Barlow and Chambers were hanged in Malaysia on July 07, 1986 for the alleged trafficking of 141.9g of heroin. Back then, I didn't really know what heroin was, but I knew who Barlow and Chambers were.

The Australian media lapped up the Barlow and Chambers case, using it to sell more and more newspapers and to increase the ratings on their news and current affairs programmes. Once the executions were carried out the Australian news barons dropped the story as quickly as the two young Australians had dropped through the trapdoor in Pudu Prison.

Almost 20 years after the deaths of Barlow and Chambers, Nguyen Tuong Van, on his first trip overseas from Australia, was arrested at Singapore airport. Police alleged that Nguyen was in possession of 400g of heroin. A Singapore court sentenced him to death for this crime in March 2004…"

One thought that crops up in Meyerhoffs' mind is whether race has a lot to do with developments surrounding Nguyen's situation:

"Brian Chambers, Kevin Barlow, Schapelle Corby and Chris Packer (Australians getting on the wrong side of the law in Asia), all have one thing in common. They are all white Australians. Nguyen Tuong Van is an Australian of Vietnamese origin. Australia's predominantly white journalists (and our white Prime Minister) have written him off as just another Viet boy dealing smack, just like they write-off the residents of the Block in Redfern and Cabramatta in Sydney.

During a recent visit to Singapore, Australian Prime Minister John Howard held a meeting with his counterpart Lee Hsien Loong where he put forward a half-hearted request for clemency. Mr Howard told the Melbourne Age; "I believe there's a very good case for clemency but people must understand that the laws of Singapore are well known and I think we'll leave it at that."

Responding to the Age reporters question on whether the execution of Nguyen would have an impact on bilateral relations between the two countries, Howard said: "Look, I think we have to keep a balance here."

Meyerhoff interpreted this to mean: "What Howard was saying was that Australia's military relationship with Singapore is worth more to us economically than Nguyen Tuong Van.

If Nguyen was called Barry and he was from Vaucluse or Sydney's North Shore, Howard would be doing everything in his power to stop the hanging.
Singapore has executed more than four hundred people since 1991, mostly for drug trafficking, giving Singapore the dubious distinction of having the highest execution rate in the world relative to population.

Robert McNab thinks Nguyen was trying to import "white death" into Australia . "Nguyen deserves no sympathy. Let's just hope his death will serve as a reminder to others who want to deal in drugs. If only Australia would adopt some of Singapore's laws…"

J. Marchese disagree: "Open your eyes Mr McNab ... it's always the small fish that get executed. The corrupt big fish in political and law enforcement establishments never ever get caught, and never ever get executed. Wake up and smell the roses!"

Priscilla Choi, a freelence journalist and Catholic perhaps has the last words: "I don't agree in the killing of another human being through execution or terrorism. For God's sake this person is only a boy who was put in a bad situation. CAN YOU NOT IMAGINE WHAT HE IS GOING THROUGH?"

One thought is that Nguyen since March 2004 knew he was going to meet his Maker. Up to some weeks ago, he knew exactly when.

And you wonder if that is an advantage over billions who know not exactly when the time will come "like a thief in the dark".

He has been judged my men and penalized accordingly to the laws of the land. It does remind you of a similar incident that happened some 2000 years ago.
Be that as it may, we have all been reminded often enough that you only go around once in life and after that, the judgment.

This article was published in the Papua New Guinean newspaper, The National, sometime in December 2005.

Protester fined $300 for abusing the police

2005-11-16T07:23:00.000+09:30

A FORMER reporter and Charles Darwin University teacher has been fined for abusing police at a drug law protest.

Robert Paul Inder-Smith, 46, pleaded guilty in Darwin Magistrates Court on Monday to disorderly behaviour in a public place.

The court heard the former Litchfield Times reporter and university teacher, now a part-time respite carer, had been protesting against the NT Government's new drug house laws in Darwin's Raintree Park in October 2002.

He and other members of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition (NAP) were using a "multi-user smoking device" in the city park when police arrived to break up the protest.

Summary prosecutor Tim Smith said police noticed the protesters had gathered around a large bucket with hoses in it.

"There was greenish liquid in the container and green vegetable matter gave off the smell of cannabis."

Mr SMith said Inder-Smith had intervened when protesters were arrested by police, telling them to "f... off".

He had stood between police and protesters and tried to stop the police taking the protesters to a police car.

Magistrate Daynor Trigg convicted Inder-Smith and fined him $300.

The court heard Inder-Smith was appealing against his conviction for invading the NT Parliament in May 2002 before the full cout of the NT Supreme Court.

Inder-Smith was among NAP members who burst into parliament when they thought the "drug house" Bill was being debated.

He and two other NAP members - Gary Meyerhoff and Stuart Highway are appealing against their convictions.

This article, written by Eric Tlozek, was published in the Northern Territory News on Wednesday, November 16, 2005.

Chroming not the issue

2005-11-10T07:23:00.000+09:30

I would like to congratulate Gary Meyerhoff for his very well researched, comprehensive, no holes bared article on chroming (NIT, October 27, 2005).

After reading about the issue in the mainstream media I was angered to see Opal fuel being offered as the panacea.

No analysis of what is driving our Indigenous brothers and sisters to take such desperate measures, no mention of the third world like conditions - only suggestions on bandaid fixes that just happen to make money for multinational corporations and help remove a blatant in your face contradiction (the growing gapbetween the haves and have-nots) from within our wealthy country.

Gary Meyerhoff's expertise and opinion expressed in the article has obviously been drawn from many years of experience working on the ground in this area and his views deserves careful consideration by everyone especially our politicians, the mainstream media and some writers of this paper.

It's a shame it hasn't been published more widely.

Well done and congratulations for expressing what so many of us already knew but could not put into words so eloquently.

Gary Harper
Bundoora, Vic

This letter to the editor written by Gary Harper of Bundoora in Victoria was published in the National Indigenous Times on Thursday, November 10, 2005.

Dangerous precedent

2005-11-02T07:23:00.000+09:30

In GLW #646 you reported that I received a 14-day sentence for contempt of court to “intimidate” Network Against Prohibition (Northern Territory) members. I was actually given a $40 fine for contempt — the 14 days I served was for a trumped-up assault-police charge along with a $100 fine for resist-police relating to the smoke-in for which Stuart Highway is serving three months jail.

I was also fined $340 for trespass during an occupation of NT Chief Minister Clair Martin’s electoral office. Gary Meyerhoff was given a suspended sentence for this incident, however he was found guilty of “business invasion” — a charge with a maximum seven-year sentence and in the same legislation as “home invasion”. While this legislation was clearly aimed at armed robbery when it was introduced, it has so far only been used against NAP members in relation to two peaceful occupations (the previous business-invasion charges were either dropped or found not guilty).

Meyerhoff’s conviction sets a dangerous precedent for future use of this legislation against activists involved in peaceful civil-disobedience.

If you would like to support Stuart, please send him letters of solidarity at Stuart Highway, Darwin Correctional Centre, PO Box 1407, NT 0801.

Ema Corro
via email

This letter to the editor, written by Ema Corro, was published in the Green Left Weekly on Wednesday, November 2, 2005.

NT Government attacks freedom of speech

2005-10-24T07:23:00.001+09:30

On October 19 veteran human rights and social justice campaigner Stuart Highway was sentenced to 8 months jail for his involvement in a Community smoke-in held at Darwin in October 2002.

The Smoke-in had been organised by the drug law-reform group the Network Against Prohibition (NAP), of which Mr Highway is a founding member. NAP formed to oppose the Martin Government’s ‘drug house’ legislation.

The ‘drug house’ legislation, labelled as draconian by many, gave police the power to affix a 1.2 metre-high fluorescent green sign to your front fence or door, declaring your home to be a ‘drug premises’.

No criminal conviction is required and no charges have to be laid for your home to be labelled a 'drug premises'.

Billed as a family event, the smoke-in turned sour after it was interrupted by members of the NT Police.

Highway and three other NAP members, Michael Barry, Nicolette Burrows and Gary Meyerhoff were indicted on charges of unlawful damage to police vehicles.

Unrepresented, Highway went through the ordeal of a trial by jury and was found guilty and was sentenced to eight months jail, suspended after serving three months.

During his sentencing submissions, Highway told Justice Trevor Riley: “We’ve always maintained the NT Government is the guilty party with their ‘drug house’ laws, not the members of the Network Against Prohibition.”

Mr Highway was supported in court by a group of NAP supporters including Margot Laughton, grandmother and first victim of Clare Martin’s draconian ‘drug house’ legislation.

Barry and Burrows were each sentenced to 5 months wholly suspended. Meyerhoff currently has pneumonia and avoided trial on that basis. He will face a trial by jury at a later date. In the previous week, he received a five-month suspended sentence for occupying the electorate office of NT Chief Minister Clare Martin on August 1, 2002, the day the ‘drug house’ laws came into force.

NAP activist Fiona Clarke vowed that the NAP campaign against the 'drug house' laws and other human rights abuses in the NT would continue.

“This is all part of the ongoing targeting of NAP members because of their political beliefs, and the ongoing criminalisation of dissent in Australia,” said Ms Clarke.

NAP members have been subject to more than 130 criminal charges since the group’s formation in March 2002.

The organisation continues to hold regular Smoke-ins in Darwin's Raintree Park, the next such event being held on November 12.

This article was published in the Delirra, the newspaper of the Charles Darwin University Student's Union on Monday, October 24, 2005.

Call to reduce defence ties with Singapore to halt execution

2005-10-24T07:23:00.000+09:30

Melbourne: Australia's Network Against Prohibition wants the Australian government to reduce defence ties with Singapore in an effort to save the life of Vietnamese-Australian Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, who faces exeuction in the city-state's Changi jail within ten days after his plea for clemency was rejected.

"We should immediately break all ties with the Singapore military and stop training Singapore pilots, says the association's spokesman, Gary Meyerhoff.

"Our navy should give Singapore a wide berth until further notice.

"Surely the life of this young Australian is more important than a few joint military training exercises."

Van, who was arrested in Singapore while trying to smuggle heroin from Viet Nam to Australia, says he was carrying the narcotic to pay off gambling debts for his twin brother.

He is to be hanged despite his cooperation with the Singapore and Australian police.

Amnesty International says Singapore has executed more than 420 people have been executed there since 1991 - the highest per capita execution rate in the world.

This article was published in the Southeast Asian Times on Monday, October 24, 2005.

Crowded jail saga

2005-10-21T07:23:00.000+09:30

I REFER to Gary Meyerhoff's letter "Toyne must go" (Northern Territory News, September 16).

You have been completely misinformed with your comment that Berrimah Prison has been overcrowded for months - it has been that way for years.

Back in the days when Fannie Bay Jail was operational, overcrowding and short-staffing were out of control. Prison officers went on strike to get a fence put up after it was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy. They also went on strike to get cell blocks rebuilt after the blocks were damaged by Cyclone Tracy.

Because they were so short-staffed, rostered days-off were unheard of, to get a day off an officer had to call in sick.

Prison officers had to go on strike for four days in order to get extra staff, after four days management turned up with eight new officers, two were overnight transfers from the police force.

It was an undisputed fact that the NT Government needed a new prison but it didn't happen until a camera was smuggled into Fannie Bay Jail and photographs were taken of the appalling conditions of prisoners.

They were sent to a Human Rights Organisation that forced the CLP Government to build a new prison, otherwise Berrimah Prison would not exist today.

On the day that Berrimah became operational they were 30 beds short, storerooms had to be stripped out and turned into dormitories with portable toilets.

Over the years, workshops and hobby rooms have all been stripped and turned into dormitories.

A.G. Piper
Winnellie

This letter to the editor, by A.G. Piper of Winnellie was published in the Northern Territory News on Friday, October 21, 2005.

Policing powers

2005-08-16T07:23:00.000+09:30

I often agree with Gary Meyerhoff’s views regarding the decriminalisation of drugs, but this time he is off the track (Letters, August 6).

He seems to be saying people should conform and do what they are told, leave the thinking to us, but if you can’t take the “new order”, then “hasta la vista, baby, you’re off the program”.

The police have a perfect and legitimate right to express discomfort with their inevitable embroilment in the equally inevitable backlash against the “socially divisive legislation” we speak of.

Rather than ignore the issue and let the public perception be “the cops will just uphold the law and hassle and heavy any protesters because that’s what their bosses want”, the police association has chosen to remind the legislators of their responsibilities to the electorate, that they are there to enact policies that have a mandate from their citizens, and that they should not assume the police will jump each time they whistle, and that while police acknowledge there must be loyalty as an employee, there is also a concurrent obligation and duty and duty to themselves and to their fellow human beings.

I believe the police, like the military, have a right to express opinions and feelings like these – history has repeatedly shown that many despotic regimes have been overthrown by the uprising of the people with the police and military on their side.

A counter argument may be the numerous police states and military dictatorships around the world, but the point I wish to make is that this is not their world – we elected them to represent us, and the NT police have as much right, and are as duty-bound, as the rest of us, to safeguard our country from tyranny and anarchy.

The people truly united in the interest of just and humane government are an awesome force – and every unpopular government’s nightmare.

Maurice Bishop
Leanyer

This letter to the editor was published in the Northern Territory News on Tuesday, August 16, 2005.

Premier deserves a medal for war on drugs

2005-08-01T07:23:00.000+09:30

GARY Meyerhoff (Letters, 29/7) has missed the entire point of the danger of drugs and shows evidence of an appalling memory, not unlike those who are severely affected by marijuana and other illicit drug use.

Bob Carr's record on protecting the community from the harm, the devastation, the damage and havoc, indeed the other adverse consequences of using illicit drugs is a mixed one. The NSW Government under his leadership is to be congratulated for its efforts to prevent the use of cannabis, and at times some successes against an insidious substance responsible for enormous devastation of young people's lives. The police force has had some success reducing supplies of illicit drugs, but also has at times turned its head in the other direction and failed the community by not properly enforcing the laws they have a duty to enforce and to protect the people accordingly.

There can never be any good excuse not to enforce such laws. It is however most unfortunate that the NSW Government, in Bob Carr's time, accepted poor advice to establish the illegal drug use room to incubate and prolong illicit drug use in Kings Cross rather than use those resources and resolve to help addicts get off drugs of addiction.

Lets hope the next Premier moves forward to helping addicts off drugs towards recovery rather than leaving them stuck on the end of a needle to be manipulated by drug dealers. Far better to help them with recovery and ongoing rehabilitation treatment.

Working together for prevention, treatment and elimination of drug abuse.

Michael D. Robinson
Executive Director,
Drug Free Australia Ltd

This letter to the editor was published in the Australian on Monday August 1, 2005.

Let’s give our candidates a thorough exam

2005-06-06T07:23:00.000+09:30

ONE of the fascinating things about living in a free democracy is how hard our politicians work to tell us nothing about themselves.

For most $100,000-plus jobs, you need a pretty impressive CV, but to be elected to run the Territory, all you need is a photo of yourself draped over the party leader and a million sizzling sausages.

I’d like to suggest that all candidates sit a written Parliamentary entrance exam during each election campaign, with results available before the poll. I’ve thought of a few sample questions.

PLEASE write your name and address (note – you may not ask for assistance with this question).

PLEASE justify why you are a fit and proper person to represent your electorate (100 words or less).

IF you don’t live in your target electorate, please: (a) explain your choice of electorate (note – references to “party strategy,” etc., are not acceptable; (b) underline the correct response: I may (i) vote for myself, (ii) may not vote for myself, (iii) am not enrolled to vote.

COMPLETE this famous quotation: “__________ ___________ can serve two masters.” Discuss how this may relate to your future work ethic.

UNDERLINE the person who most closely matches your own experiences with and attitudes towards drugs: (a) Pope Benedict XVI; (b) Bill Clinton; (c) (Network Against Prohibition’s) Gary Meyerhoff.

YOU are being harassed by a journalist. Would you: (a) say “no comment”; (b) wrap a microphone cord around his neck; (c) head butt him; or (d) punch him? Explain your choice.

USE the words “poofter”, “Nazi”, and “do-gooder” in a sentence of 15 words or less. Now suggest some equivalent phrases that may be used outside Parliament.

WHEN in office, you discover that your own financial management skills are not ideal. Would you: (a) pawn the office microwave; (b) raise your salary while instructing Territorians to tighten their belts; or (c) step aside while a property rezoning is made to your advantage? Explain your choice.

IMAGINE that as a Member of Parliament you are asked to comment on a controversial under-age pregnancy case. Outline your answer, with reference to the Convention on the Rights of the child.

IMAGINE that you are receiving a visit from the Greek Patriarch. Would you: (a) give him a Toyota; (b) display your historical knowledge by rabbiting on about the fourth Crusade; (c) mock his accent; or (d) other?

Andrew Tupper
Wulagi

This leter to the editor was published in the Northern Territory News on Monday June 6, 2005.

Schapellism – the new racism?

2005-06-01T07:23:00.000+09:30

Cancelling holidays to Bali. Refusing to buy Indonesian products. Asserting they will never return to Indonesia. Insisting that they will never donate to another disaster appeal to aid Indonesia. Many Australians have chosen to show their support for Schapelle Corby by what could be seen as discriminating against the Indonesian people. Some argue that the national outrage over the Corby case means Australians are belittling Indonesia’s ability to conduct a fair trial. Others say the Bali boycotts are a form of positive support for Corby. Whether it is positive support for Corby or being racist the issue has been an important feature of the landmark trial.

Found last October with 4.1kg of marijuana in her body board bag at Denpasar airport after flying from Sydney, 27-year-old Queenslander Schapelle Corby has become a household name. Months down the track and after one of the most highly publicised court cases in Australian history, Corby is now in Kerobokan Prison in Denpasar, serving 20 years after the Indonesian court found her guilty of drug smuggling. The Corby trial has outraged and affected many Australians.

A recent Channel Nine poll showed 92 per cent of people to respond believe Corby is innocent – and in the lead-up to her trial, Australians rallied to help her in various ways. However, freelance journalist, youth worker and co-founder of the Darwin-based drug law-reform organisation, Network Against Prohibition Gary Meyerhoff has written about Corby’s trial and says many Australians are being racist. “I think the outrage is symptomatic of the inherent racism in Australian society,” Meyerhoff said. He said Australia was not in a position to comment on the workings of Indonesia’s court system. “Our own legal system is an absolute shambles, with more Australians incarcerated than ever before,” he said. “The Indonesian courts are… no more incompetent than Australian courts. No country has the right to interfere in another’s legal system.”

But others disagree that some Australians are being bigoted. The Bulletin journalist and Walkley Award winner Paul Toohey is one of them. His story “Busted” about the Corby trial graced the front page of the May 3 issue of the The Bulletin. “The death penalty exists in Indonesia for all people, whether they are pretty or ugly,” Toohey said. “However, part of the sympathy generated for Corby that comes from within Australia is because she’s pretty and white, no doubt. But particularly because people think she’s innocent.” Australians were entitled to comment on how other countries ran their justice systems.

Before the court delivered its final verdict, Corby’s cousin Melissa Younger organised a Support Schapelle fundraiser at the Claremont Hotel to cover the Corby family’s accommodation expenses in Bali. Younger visited her cousin in prison three weeks ago. Since then she has met many Corby supporters. “I have heard a lot of people saying that is Schapelle is found guilty, they won’t go back to Indonesia,” Younger said. “That’s up to people themselves. I love Indonesia myself – I think Bali’s a beautiful place and the Balinese people are beautiful.”

In the lead-up to the trial, a survey by travel industry electronic publication Travel Daily found 70 per cent of 180 travel agents said they would boycott promotion of Bali if Corby was found guilty. Nurse Kerri Green was at the Claremont Hotel Support Schapelle fundraiser. “A lot of nurses who would usually go over to Bali for their holidays are boycotting trips to Indonesia,” she said.

Corby support comes in various forms. Web designer Rebecca McGavin said she was touched by Corby’s story and wanted to help. She created a website that sells T-shirts, hats, bumper stickers and other merchandise bearing the logo “Free Schapelle” to raise funds for the Corby family’s visit to Indonesia. McGavin said many people had told her they were choosing to support Corby in ways other than buying merchandise. “Everyday Australians are outraged, putting off travel to Indonesia and telling me they won’t support Indonesia or its products,” McGavin said.

The outrage could mean the Australian public are belittling the ability of the Indonesians to conduct a fair court case.

“Of course there will be some people who don’t respect the Indonesian judicial system, but I would hope that the majority of Australians respect other cultures,” McGavin said. “The drug traffickers who put the drugs in Schapelle’s bag are the ones Australians should be directing their anger at, not the Indonesian people – who, after all, are just trying someone through their judicial system.”

McGavin said most people had a lack of understanding about their own court system, let alone the legal systems of other countries. “I am involved in a web-ring of other Schapelle supporters and we have made it very clear that we respect the Indonesian people and their legal system and mean no disrespect to Indonesia, their culture or their people,” she said. “We just want to get Schapelle out of prison for a crime we believe she did not commit.”

Some people say there is no discrimination in Australia at all in regards to the Corby case. Melbourne-based Alan Singer has been running a log on the internet based on Corby’s plight since March 16. His site, Headhunter, is visited by more than 1400 people per day. One of the latest entries consists of Singer’s reply to an inquiry from the Western Independent. When asked if he believes the public outrage in Australia over the Corby case is subconsciously linked to discrimination, Singer disagrees. “Australians are not a racist people by nature – we are not free of racism but our people and our culture are generally, inclusive, tolerant and accepting of other races,” he said. He said many people believe it was unfair that Corby has been sentenced when Australian tourists are a big source of income for Indonesia. “There are literally tens of thousands of people who have said they will now never travel to Bali or buy Indonesian goods, or donate to another “tsunami appeal” for aid to Indonesia,” he said.

Singer was concerned before the verdict that the public support for Corby could adversely affect the outcome. “There is a real risk that the wrong type of public outcry, that is offensive to Indonesia or judges, could potentially influence the outcome in a negative manner.”

Wisnu Nugroho is a US-based Indonesian man who posted an entry on Singer’s website regarding his latest comments on the Corby trial. In it Nugroho said he disagreed with Singer’s comment that Australians were not belittling the Indonesians’ ability to conduct a proper trial. “I can’t help but notice the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) hints of racism here, not to mention arrogance. The idea that we should abandon the procedures of our developing legal system just because Australians have ‘give so much’ is plain arrogant and offensive,” Nugroho said.

Founder of fundraising organisation Save Schapelle Corby Anthony Zorbas said many Australians said they would never again travel to Bali – not always purely out of support for Corby, but because of fear of finding themselves in her situation.

Many Australians do not fully understand that the Indonesian justice system is different from Australia’s. Media reports offer different explanations of the Indonesian judicial system that confuse the public. “I believe the Australian outrage has been generated by comparing the Indonesian system of law to the standards we hold in Australia,” Zorbas said. “In doing this, respect has been lost for Indonesia as a whole as it is viewed as an unfair system and a place of limited compassion for people in Schapelle’s situation.”

Ross Tyler is the WA chairman of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council and the former WA government regional director to Indonesia. He was framed for possessing drugs in a Pakistan hotel in 1974 by corrupt officials and drug peddlers. Innocent, he was lucky to be able to negotiate his way out of the situation and says he feels greatly for Corby.

Taylor says both Indonesians and Australians think the Indonesian legal system is not always adequate.

“The Dutch – after 300 years of rule – left the Indonesian people with a poorly constructed and inadequate legal framework from which to work,” Taylor said. “It’s only been in the past two to three years that the Indonesian judiciary has enjoyed some autonomy from government interference – something that Australia has lobbied for over many years. Now are people are demanding we ‘interfere’ in their court system to help Ms Corby. We are therefore in real danger of being seen as very inconsistent in our approach to Indonesia and this is what makes this case so diplomatically difficult.”

Taylor said that while there was a lack of understanding of the Indonesian court system in Australia, he did not think the uproar stemmed from racism: “We are not generally racists in Australia. Arrogant maybe, but not racist. I say arrogant because we are happy for our English-speaking courts to deal with poor Indonesian fishermen and to burn their boats for illegal fishing in our waters. Imagine if Indonesia put political pressure on Australia to go easy on these people. We would tell them to mind their own business – and that is what they are now telling us to do in the Corby case.”

But Rahma Amil, an Indonesian woman who runs a weblog with frequent documentation on the trial proceedings, says otherwise. “Australia is my favourite country after Indonesia, but when I read their comments on my site about the case I feel disappointed,” Amil said. “I think Australians are open-minded in general, but in this case they tend to spread their anger to all Indonesians. It’s not fair… Australia’s actions in boycotting Indonesian products is not the solution – it just makes the situation worse.”

Ray Edwards is a Queensland real estate agent who began an appeal to raise a $1 million reward for information that would lead to Corby’s freedom. When told some Indonesians found it hurtful that Australians were boycotting Indonesia, Edward retaliated. “You tell your Indonesian friends that if they think that’s hurtful you wait until you see how the Australians will react to the hurtful way his ilk have treated us,” Edwards said. He said the only evidence the Indonesian court had was that the drugs were found in Corby’s baggage. “I know that there are people saying that the Indonesian justice system must prevail, and whilst my heart says otherwise I realise that this is the sensible reality,” he said. “It is unfortunate that their justice system differs so much from ours.”

If the boycott of Indonesia continues, it is possible relationships between Australia and Indonesia will be affected. Taylor summarises it. “The stories about Corby and the Bali Nine are much more than just stories about smuggling drugs,” he said. “There is a lot riding on the outcomes of these cases. Either way we are all in for a bumpy ride over the next few weeks.”

This article, written by Maya Anderson, was published in the Curtin University newspaper the "Western Independent" in the June 2005 issue (Volume 3, no.3).

Ex-Grimsby man faces Aussie court

2005-04-27T19:23:00.000+09:30

Grimsby-born activist Gary Meyerhoff has become the first person to be successfully prosecuted by Darwin City Council in Australia for putting up a poster without a permit.

Meyerhoff, who holds joint British and Australian citizenship, lost his appeal against the conviction earlier this month in the Northern Territory Supreme Court. He was arrested in August last year when he was caught sticking up posters for a drug-reform festival, having been denied a permit by the council. He was found guilty of the offence in October.

The judge, Justice Stephen Southwood, ordered Meyerhoff to be on good behaviour for 12 months and to appear before the Court of Summary Jurisdiction if called upon to do so during the period of the order.

However he rejected the council's application for costs, referring to the case as "public-interest litigation".

Meyerhoff said: "The permit system merely creates the illusion that a fair and democratic process exists and that we have free speech in Australia. This is all part of the illusion that Australia is a democracy."

The former Enfield Primary School pupil is waiting for a court date for his appeal against a 21-month jail sentence for disrupting the Northern Parliament while in in session in 2002.

This article was published in the Grimsby Evening Telegraph on Wednesday, April 27, 2005.

A big load of drivel

2005-03-18T07:23:00.000+09:30

Ian Baume, (Northern Territory News, March 15), is correct about the mindless drivel propagated by Gary Meyerhoff, but I cannot agree with him about the quality of Four Corners documentaries.

I was a fan of Four Corners myself until I saw their treatment of the "Crocodile Dundee" shooting a couple of years ago. I live in that area, and was at the corner of Bynoe Rd at the time, know some of the people involved, and am aware of the real facts of the incident.

On that basis, I'd say that the documentary was as full of drivel as anything Gary Meyerhoff has said.

On another point, Lee Symons (Northern Territory News, March 15), recommends returning junk mail back to the sender.

A mate of mine in Sydney takes that one step further. He glues the junk mail to a length of masonite and mails that, without postage, back to the sender. He reports ideal results.

Name and address withheld by request

This letter to the editor, name and address withheld, was published in the Northern Territory News on Friday March 18, 2005.

Mindless drivel

2005-03-15T07:23:00.000+09:30

GARY Meyerhoff, it is a problem fact that long term cannabis use can trigger psychosis. The ABC's Four Corners produces first-class documentaries that are well researched, not like the mindless drivel you come up with.

Pull your head in and grow up.

Ian Baume
Millner

This letter to the editor was published in the Northern Territory News on March 15, 2005.

Aunty slammed

2005-03-09T07:23:00.000+09:30

The Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition (NAP) has slammed the ABC over a documentary on the dangers of pot smoking.

NAP spokesperson Gary Meyerhoff said working for the ABC is a lot like smoking dope.

"The harder you suck, the higher you get," he said.

The NAP is having its first smoke-in for 2005 on Saturday at Darwin's Raintree Park.

This article was published in the Northern Territory News on March 9, 2005, in the NT and Beyond column. It has also been archived on napnt.org and by the Media Awareness Project.

Unlawful arrests of activists

2004-11-17T07:23:00.000+09:30

DARWIN — Three members of the Network Against Prohibition — Gary Meyerhoff, Stuart Highway and Robert Inder-Smith — were unlawfully arrested on November 1 for their involvement in a 2002 protest against the NT Labor government’s repressive “drug-house laws”. Along with two others, they were convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 14-21 months’ jail, suspended after five months.

Warrants were issued for their arrest by the Supreme Court on October 4, even though the three were on bail pending appeals against their sentences. The activists were not informed of the hearing, nor that the warrants had been issued.

The police arrived at Meyerhoff’s house at 1am to arrest him. He told the ABC’s Stateline program that he “knew straight away that someone had made a mistake somewhere”, but “had no choice but to get in the back of the van with the police”. It was pouring rain at the time and Meyerhoff was recovering from pneumonia.

The three were taken to the Darwin watch-house, where they were refused phone calls and contact with legal aid. NT police commander Max Pope conceded on Stateline that “they should have been allowed to make that call”.

The activists will launch civil litigation against the NT government.

This article was written by Kathy Newnam and published in the Green Left Weekly on the November 17, 2004.

Bong on

2004-11-11T07:23:00.000+09:30

Transcript of Radio Interview on 105.7 ABC Darwin

Richard Margetson: 105.7 ABC Darwin right on five to five, Queensland shops could be banned from selling marijuana paraphernalia, which includes bongs, under the eleventh hour amendments to the government’s new tough tobacco laws. The government there is expecting to adopt changes put forward by the Nationals that would result in a ban on items such as bongs, pipes, cones, all used to smoke cannabis of course.

If that motion goes through, offenders will face hefty penalties of up to ten thousand dollars for buying or selling paraphernalia for illegal use. What would happen if tobacconists couldn’t stock bongs and pipes up here in the Territory, would it really make any difference about the amount of drugs being smoked. We’ve contacted Gary Meyerhoff, he works for the Network Against Prohibition, joins us today, just out of bed I think aren’t you Gary?

Gary Meyerhoff: I just had a bit of siesta Richard.

Richard Margetson: I’m sure you did, what do you think about this one in Queensland?

Gary Meyerhoff: Well it’s a bit of a surprise and a bit of a contradiction as well considering that you know, tobacconists, you know, their going to be stopped from selling these ornaments but their still going to be allowed to sell a deadly poison that we know causes cancer, it’s a bit of a strange one but it seems to be following the line from the United States, I mean they’ve done this in the United States, their shutting down websites that sell bongs and other drug paraphernalia, so it’s sort of part of our transition, I suppose, to being just another state of America.

Richard Margetson: This is something that has been explored in other states before though, the South Australian experience would be one to look at because they have had the most liberal laws, drug laws in the country, especially during the 1980s and they’ve tightened up, especially on things like the sale of paraphernalia

Gary Meyerhoff: And also they were the first to decriminalise cannabis and they’ve taken that status away from hydroponically grown cannabis as well, so, and a lot of this crackdown is actually based on misinformation and propaganda coming out of the drug enforcement agency in the United States, there’s actually, you know, no basis to it. I’m pretty sure Clare Martin is kicking herself today that she never thought of this idea first.

Richard Margetson: Do you ever think that it will come to the Territory, do you think that there is a general belief within the community that the way in which drugs have been sold or allowed to develop as part of our community and specifically through things like the open sale of paraphernalia, do you think that that’s eventually sort of worn thin on the community and there’s a need for change.

Gary Meyerhoff: Not at all, I think out in the community the change that people want is drug law reform. This concern seems to appear only in the minds of, you know, Labor and Liberal government politicians. And all we have here is the, it’s an ongoing process where the state and territory Labor governments are trying to out-do John Howard when it comes to zero tolerance approaches to drug issues, but if you asked your average person on the street, I mean, this is ridiculous, it’s just another stupid law that’s going to have no impact whatsoever except maybe some Tobacconists are going to get busted for selling, you know, these ornaments from the back room.

Richard Margetson: Gary Meyerhoff, thanks for joining us this afternoon you can go back to bed now.

Gary Meyerhoff: No worries, thankyou Richard.

Richard Margetson: Cheers, Gary Meyerhoff from the Network Against Prohibition, in fact we’ll be talking a little more about tobacconists directly after the news because there’s some new action on smoking and health in general from cigarette smoking and a lot of the idea, revolves around the idea of not just cigarette companies but retailers being forced to pay the full cost of smoking related illnesses under a new plan to get people to quit, so it’s not just the illegal drugs, marijuana drugs and cannabis in general, it’s legally available drugs like tobacco which are now coming under the watchful eye of people around the country, we’ll talk about that after the news, so stay with us. Richard Margetson with you through until six on 105.7 ABC Darwin, right now it is new time and that is five o’clock.

This live interview was broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation 105.7 ABC Darwin on November 11, 2004. The presenter was Richard Margetson.

Drug law protesters allege wrongful arrest

2004-11-05T20:23:00.000+09:30

TELEVISION PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

MICHAEL COGGAN: A mistake within the NT's Justice Department led to three Darwin people being wrongly jailed early this week.

The three are members of Network Against Prohibition, an activist group opposed to the NT's drug laws.

They'd been convicted of disrupting Parliament 2.5 years ago and were waiting for an appeal to be decided against their jail sentences.

But court staff overlooked the fact that the three were on bail and issued a warrant for their arrest.

And NT Police have conceded the three should have been able to make a telephone call after their arrest.

Murray McLaughlin reports.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: Members of the Network Against Prohibition, or NAP, have a history of complaining against the NT Police.

At their first rally in Darwin over two years ago, NAP leader Gary Meyerhoff was charged with six offences.

The charges were dropped, and the ombudsman later found that police had unlawfully ordered Mr Meyerhoff to stop loitering.

But the ombudsman dismissed complaints that the police used excessive force.

Police say this history doesn't mean that NAP members have been treated differently.

MAX POPE, COMMANDER, DARWIN REGION: Of course they've come to police attention.

But then a lot of people come to police attention.

We don't stack it up against people.

We deal with each individual incident as it occurs.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: In May 2002, NAP members took their protests against Labor government drug laws to a new level.

They invaded Parliament House and burst onto the floor of the debating chamber.

The Magistrates Court hearing of charges of disturbing the Legislative Assembly was protracted.

They were finally found guilty in May last year and got jail terms up to 21 months with five months to serve.

Those convictions were confirmed by the Supreme Court in September this year.

But the judge adjourned appeals against the jail sentences.

But court staff made a mistake and last month warrants were signed for the arrest of three NAP members.

Stuart Highway was walking down Progress Drive in Nightcliff on Monday night when police nabbed him.

STUART HIGHWAY, NETWORK AGAINST PROHIBITION: I was coming along here.

I bent down to do up my shoelace and I was watching what the police were doing over here, the paddy wagon with headlights on, and they were hassling half a dozen long grass people and the police saw me and said, "Are you Stuart Highway?

"You've got a warrant."

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: Robert Inder-Smith was next.

He was working on a computer at home about 11:00pm, when five police officers appeared at his open door.

ROBERT INDER-SMITH, NAP MEMBER: They said "We've got a warrant".

I asked them about what, They told me "Parliament invasion" and they insisted and they basically made it clear that I had to go with them then and there, no phone calls or anything.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: Did you try and make a phone call?

ROBERT INDER-SMITH: Yes, I was about to, I picked up the phone but, no refused.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: Gary Meyerhoff was in bed at home in Ludmilla around 1:00am that same night when police came to arrest him.

GARY MEYERHOFF, NAP MEMBER: I knew straight away that someone had made a mistake somewhere but I had no choice but to get in the back of the van with the police, despite the fact that I was recovering from pneumonia and it's pouring down with rain.

I had no option.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: All three were put into a cell at Darwin Central Police Station where they were denied the chance to telephone a lawyer.

GARY MEYERHOFF: We weren't allowed to contact anyone in the morning, they kept us there till about 8:00am in the morning and I asked to speak to the sheriff from the Supreme Court so that we could explain, he could explain that a mistake has been made here, but they wouldn't allow me to speak to anyone at the Supreme Court

MAX POPE: They should have been allowed to make that call.

The judgement of the person in particular, made a judgement at the time, that it was oneish in the morning, and that a call may not have been fruitful.

In hindsight I'd say that shouldn't have occurred, in accordance with our procedures the people should have been allowed to make a phone call.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: The three prisoners were removed to Berrimah jail on Tuesday morning, still protesting that the system had made a mistake.

From Berrimah they were able to make contact with the offices of Legal Aid and the ombudsman, but weren't allowed out on bail till Wednesday evening.

Police say it's not unusual that it took four weeks after the court system signed the warrant for them to arrest the three Parliament invaders.

MAX POPE: Often warrants are, because of the volume, come, and they're just attached to people who they relate to, and it's not until a particular person comes to attention, that the warrant comes to existence.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: The NAP members are now planning to complain again to the ombudsman about the NT Police and to sue the NT Government for deprivation of liberty.

This report was broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Stateline program on November 5, 2004. The reporter was Murray McLaughlin. I have amended the title which originally read 'Drug law protester allege wrongful arrest'.

Bill pasting is not a crime!

2004-11-03T07:23:00.000+09:30

DARWIN — Human-rights activist Gary Meyerhoff was found guilty in the Darwin Magistrates Court on October 28 bill pasting.

Meyerhoff was charged under a Darwin City Council by-law, which prohibits postering “without a permit”. The council has never issued such a permit and this was the first time that anyone has been charged with the offence.

The court gave Meyerhoff a 6-month, $600 good behaviour bond and he has been ordered to pay costs of $710. He will appeal the decision in the Supreme Court.

This article was written by Kathy Newnam and published in the Green Left Weekly in the November 3, 2004 edition and was also published on Darwin Indymedia on November 1, 2004.

Appeal thrown out

2004-09-23T07:23:00.000+09:30

Gary Meyerhoff, the Grimsby-born Australian who burst into the Northern Territory's Parliament to protest about drug laws, has had an appeal against his conviction dismissed.

Mr Meyerhoff, who holds dual citizenship, was sentenced to 21 months in March 2003 after he was found guilty of disrupting the parliament in session on May 14, 2002, as previously reported. About half the Northern Territory's Parliament gave evidence during the trial and the sentence was to be suspended after five months.

But Mr Meyerhoff, who lived in Marshchapel and New Waltham before moving to Australia with his parents when he was nine, appealed against his conviction.

Summing up his reasons for rejecting the appeal, Justice David Angel told Darwin's supreme court that he accepted that the disturbance had been based on "strongly-held views".

"The appellant Meyerhoff was instrumental in founding an association which believes all drugs should be decriminalised and that there should be controlled availability of drugs, including opiates."

Mr Meyerhoff told the Telegraph that he and four others would appeal the sentence.

He said that he expected to be jailed should he lose that appeal.

No date for the sentence appeal hearing has yet been set.

Written by Lisa Parry and published in the Grimsby Evening Telegraph (UK)on 23rd September 2004

Drug law reform activists await appeal outcome

2004-09-08T07:23:00.000+09:30

DARWIN — Four human rights activists facing imprisonment for a 2002 protest in the Northern Territory Parliament are awaiting an appeal decision against their conviction. The appellate judge has reserved his judgement after hearing three days of submissions from the defendants.

Gary Meyerhoff, Robert Inder-Smith and Stuart Highway, all members of the Network Against Prohibition, and Mick Lambe, the coordinator of People Against Racism in Aboriginal Homelands, were among a group of nine people who invaded the chamber of the NT Legislative Assembly on May 14, 2002.

The protest was held on the day that the Labor government's repressive “drug house laws” were adopted by the NT Parliament.

After a 16-day trial in the Darwin Magistrates Court in 2002, the activists were sentenced to 14- and 21-month jail terms.

“We’re up against a lot of vested interests”, stated Highway in his appeal on August 30, noting what he believes to be the high level of corruption in the NT police force and justice system. Meyerhoff commented that “ever since the formation of the NAP in 2001, they have hit us will all these charges in the hope that we would leave the territory or go to legal aid and plead guilty, but we're not going anywhere”.

This article was written by Kathy Newnam and published in the Green Left Weekly on September 8, 2004.

Celebrating Drug Use

2004-08-26T07:23:00.000+09:30

The truth is illicit drugs are available in Australia to those who want them. Next week the Third Darwin International Syringe Festival kicks off. The Network Against Prohibtion (NAP), who are organising SyringeFest 2004, say it is to celebrate 100 years of illicit drug use in the Northern Territory and highlight the human rights abuses suffered by drug users.

Gary Meyerhoff from NAP explained to Jonathan Lucraft why that he thinks drug prohibition does not work. Its no surprise that many disagree with Gary Meyerhoff's attitude towards drugs. Major Brian Watters is the Chairman of the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD), which advises the Federal Government on drugs' policy. He told Jay Lamey he has seen too many lives destroyed by drugs to ever believe drug use can be 'celebrated'.

Produced by Jay Lamey August 26, 2004 for The Wire

Widespread opposition to US `training centres’

2004-07-28T07:23:00.000+09:30

The July 7 announcement that Australia will host three “training centres” for joint US-Australia military exercises has sparked widespread opposition. Green Left Weekly’s Kathy Newnam spoke to a range of organisations and activists from the Northern Territory and central Queensland about their responses.

Socialist Alliance spokesperson and NT Senate candidate Ray Hayes said: “We don’t need the kind of consequences that US training facilities and bases have brought to people all around the world. There are instances everywhere around the world where US bases have been well and truly demonstrated to lead to an increase in assaults on women and children.”

NT defence minister Paul Henderson told the media on July 10 that he didn’t believe there would “be a significant increase in anti-social behaviour” associated with the “joint training centres”, stating that “if there is any of that type of activity then the police will bring the full weight of the law down”.

But such a declaration is unlikely to alleviate community concerns. The Darwin Centre Against Rape (Ruby Gaea) co-ordinator, Naomi Brennan, discussed incidents of sexual assault that have occurred during the docking of US Navy vessels in Darwin. US military personnel have been free to leave the country, even after being charged with sexual assault. “We just don’t hear about it again”, said Brennan.

“Perpetrators go home free of all responsibility, with support from their associations. They are given their liberty — meanwhile the victims are totally denied their human rights, knowing that the perpetrator has maintained control of the whole situation.”

There are also widespread concerns about the environmental consequences of the planned “training centres”. The co-ordinator of the Envirolink Centre in Yeppoon, Kris Palmer, said that there is widespread community concern regarding the Shoalwater Bay centre, including from landholders who believe the massive increase in road traffic will damage the roads and surrounds.

A petition circulating in Yeppoon against the centre raises the potential impact of sonar and military equipment on the marine environment of Shoalwater Bay, which is adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Other residents have raised concerns about the possible use of depleted uranium munitions during training exercises. There are also environmental concerns about the base at Bradshaw station, which contains a coastline of delicate mangrove.

Drug users have expressed concern that a US base is being established in the NT without a massive expansion of drug detoxification, treatment and rehabilitation services, which are already unable to meet demand. Darwin drug law reform group Network Against Prohibition is urging the NT government to double the funding for drug treatment and education programs before contemplating the presence of large numbers of US troops in the NT.

NAP spokesperson Gary Meyerhoff believes that it is crucial that opposition to the “training centres” goes beyond the widely recognised social impacts they will have. “The impact of US imperialism is worldwide”, he said, arguing that “our main opposition is ultimately because of US foreign policy and US imperialism”.

Hayes concurs with this sentiment: “These training centres are about continuing our relationship with war criminals and I think that the Australian people have more sense than that. We don’t want a relationship with war criminals and murderers.”

The Greens’ lead Senate candidate in the NT, Ilana Eldridge, noted that Australia is “being drawn closer and closer into becoming just another cog in the wheel of America’s military arsenal”. Eldridge believes that “Australia should be pursuing a strong and independent defence policy, coupled with an engaging and inclusive foreign policy”.

The Greens have also criticised the government for the lack of community consultation regarding the centres. “Such profound and far reaching foreign policy developments require more than the supposed mandate of a government which was elected, through an undemocratic electoral system, by little more than 30% of the Australian vote”, declared Eldridge.

Many activists have pointed out that the plans for the new centres have undoubtedly been on the drawing board for many years. “The reality is that they knew ten years ago they were going to do this”, said Meyerhoff, noting that the transport of military equipment was a major motivation for the recent completion of the train line to Darwin.

Many also believe that the centres will be a foot in the door to the establishment of permanent US bases in Australia. According to Hayes, “Training centres, bases — it’s all the same thing. It’s a liar’s way to allow them to preposition troops in our region.” Eldridge concurs, arguing that the centres “are a back-door approach to establishing a permanent US military presence”.

There are already a number of right-wing commentators advocating such a move. Col Newman wrote in the July 14 NT News: “If the US personnel are here on a regular basis why not rent them their own block of dirt and let them do their own thing?”

Newman also took aim at the anti-bases protestors, labelling those who demonstrated outside federal Country Liberal Party MP David Tollner’s office on June 7 a “bunch of leftie drug-smoking protesters”. Tollner himself commented on the protest, stating that those involved in it were “wasting their time”.

This sentiment is strongly rebuked by anti-bases activists. Hayes commented that “it has been shown before that these protest movements are not a waste of time. In the Philippines, two of the biggest US bases in the world were closed down a number of years ago, and just last year in Puerto Rico the people forced the closure of the US base. We are not wasting our time.”

This article was written by Kathy Newnam and published in the Green Left Weekly, July 28, 2004.

Dogs noses' are clean

2004-07-15T07:23:00.000+09:30

In response to Gary Meyerhoff's comments (Northern Territory News, July 9) I would like to advise all readers that Customs detector dogs are never fed, dosed or rewarded with drugs and are not "drug - addicted canines".

The recent seizures of 1.5kg of cocaine at Brisbane airport, and 3kg of cocaine and more than 2000 MDMA tablets at Sydney demonstrates Customs' effectiveness protecting the Australian community also reviews all sea cargo entering Australia and physically checks those containers identified as posing a risk to the border.

Leanne Wilson
Acting Regional Director
Australian Customs Service

This letter to the editor, written by Leane Wilson, the Acting Regional Director for the Australian Customs Service, was published in the Northern Territory News on July 15, 2004. It has also been archived on napnt.org.

Customs act in our interest

2004-07-13T14:15:00.000+09:30

I FEEL a need to reply to recently published letters that have bagged customs.

I am a frequent overseas traveller and have been through a lot of airports under the current climate.

Surely people need to understannd we need to be checked more thoroughly as a result of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US.

Do we want an airliner ploughing into Parliament House? Of course not.

If Customs want to ask me questions or search me they can.

I have nothing to hide.

In reply to Gary Meyerhoff, Customs officers should be commended for their courteous behaviour.

Name and address withheld by request

This letter to the editor was published in the Northern Territory News on the 13th of July 2004. The name and address of the author was withheld by request.

Case down under adjourned

2004-06-18T07:23:00.000+09:30

A Grimsby-born campaigner appealing a 21-month jail sentence for bursting into the Northern Territory's parliament in Australia has had his case adjourned.

Supreme Court Judge David Angel has put back the case of Gary Meyerhoff (29) at Darwin Magistrates' Court after Meyerhoff requested an electronic copy of the transcript from his original trial. In March 2003, Meyerhoff was found guilty of disrupting the parliament while it was in session.

Around half the Northern Territory's parliament gave evidence during the trial and Meyerhoff was sentenced to 21 months, to be suspended after five.

Meyerhoff attended Enfield Primary School, New Waltham, and lived in Marshchapel and New Waltham before moving to Australia aged nine.

The appeal will be heard on August 30.

Published in the Grimsby Evening Telegraph on June 18, 2004.

Falconio media briefed on NT’s black record

2004-05-26T14:56:00.000+09:30

The human rights group Network Against Prohibition (NAP) has called on international media present in Darwin for the Peter Falconio murder trial to investigate the serious ongoing human rights abuses against Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory.

NAP, which is running a candidate in the upcoming Darwin mayoral elections and recently smoked a giant ‘joint’ in a Darwin park to highlight the Territory’s drug house laws, has been a consistent voice on the issue of Indigenous rights.

Mr Falconio, a British tourist, disappeared on the Stuart Highway in 2001.

Bradley John Murdoch, 45, from Broome in WA, has been charged with his murder, sparking dozens of international media outlets to descend on Darwin.

NAP spokesman Gary Meyerhoff told NIT there had been some initial interest from the United Kingdom and New Zealand media last week, and more interest from international media earlier this week.

While NAP campaigns largely against the prohibition of marijuana in the NT, it also campaigns strongly on the issue of Indigenous rights.

“Indigenous Australians now account for 86 percent of the Northern Territory jail population despite making up only 30 percent of the population,” Mr Meyerhoff said.

“This figure is rising, not falling.

“Many Indigenous people are subject to apartheid-type conditions in the Northern Territory.

“In the cities and regional centres where refugees from remote Indigenous communities gather to escape poverty, unemployment, inadequate housing and essential services, disease and isolation, they are treated as second-class citizens.”

Mr Meyerhoff said the government-funded ‘night patrols’ arrest Indigenous people who are sitting in public places and who appear to be under the influence of alcohol.

“The people are detained in a cage on the back of a van and taken to the Watch-house or to the sobering-up shelter,” he said.

“Many are forced to return to a remote community, and the payment for their travel is taken out of their own welfare payments.

“Rather than spend $8 million dollars on building houses and schools in remote communities, the NT Government made the announcement this week that they would build a new jail.”

In the upcoming local elections, Mr Meyerhoff is running for the Lyons ward, while colleague Stuart Highway is running for Lord Mayor and Robert Inder-Smith for the Chan Ward.

More information on NAP can be found on their website www.napnt.org

This article was published in the National Indigenous Times on Thursday, May 26, 2004.

Campaigner could be jailed for protest

2004-05-24T07:23:00.000+09:30

A Grimsby-born campaigner will find out next month if he faces jail after storming the Northern Territory's parliament in Australia.

Gary Meyerhoff (29), who holds joint British and Australian citizenship, burst into Parliament House, Darwin, on May 14, 2002 when the newly-elected Labor Party's fresh drug laws were being debated. Meyerhoff and eight others from the lobby group Network Against Prohibition (NAP) objected to the plans, now law, allowing police to place a warning sign outside a user's home.

He was sentenced to 21 months inside, of which he would serve five, but is out on bail having appealed against the conviction.

Speaking to the Telegraph from Darwin, the former Enfield Primary School pupil said he was due back in court on June 15, 16 and 17.

He said: "If we lose the appeal, we will contest the sentence. We will be in jail within three months if we are unsuccessful."

However, Meyerhoff, who lived in Marshchapel and New Waltham, before moving to Australia aged nine with his parents, told the Telegraph he had no regrets.

He said: "We felt it was our duty to highlight to the Northern Territory's Government the major mistake it was about to make.

"Drug users are stigmatised on a daily basis and the "drug house" laws further add to that stigmatisation."

He added: "The drugs policies here are not working. They are throwing heaps of people in jail, but not addressing real problems."

Meyerhoff last visited the Grimsby area in 2001 and said he had "loads of friends" in North East Lincolnshire.

Becky Lidgard (62), of Cleethorpes, Meyerhoff's aunt, said he had done a lot to help Australia's indigenous people, who the NAP claim are being unfairly targeted by police under the new laws.

She said: "He's done a lot of hard work with drug users, AIDS sufferers, Aboriginees and in schools."

Meyerhoff's parents were Grimbarians Rosemary and Bill Meyerhoff.

Mrs Meyerhoff has since passed away.

Meyerhoff pleaded not guilty to disrupting parliament in session in March 2003, claiming what was being debated was unlawful and that his entry was covered by the Australian constitution's implied right to freedom of speech.

No-one from the department of the Northern Territory's chief minister was available for comment.

THE action taken by Gary Meyerhoff and his colleagues may be seen by some as extreme, but it is by no means infrequent.

Over the years numerous protests have been waged in the world's elected parliaments and assemblies.

Just last week, Ron Davis (48) and Guy Harrison (36) allegedly threw condoms packed with purple flour at Tony Blair to protest at the limited rights of fathers following divorce proceedings.

They are due to appear before magistrates this week.

In February 1988 gay rights protesters abseiled into the House of Lords to take a stand against section 28, a clause of the Local Government Act that later became law banning councils from promoting homosexuality.

In eastern Europe, Macedonian president Boris Traikovski appealed for calm after protesters forced him to flee when they broke in on June 25, 2001, claiming he was too soft on Albanian fighters.

Last November in Georgia, opposition supporters claiming electoral fraud stormed in when president, Eduard Shevardnadze, tried to convene parliament.

He later resigned and Mikhail Saakashvili took over.

Written by Lisa Parry and Published in the Grimsby Evening Telegraph on May 24, 2004.

NT parliament invaders appeal conviction

2003-11-25T19:23:00.000+09:30

A group of activists, sentenced to jail terms for illegally entering the Northern Territory's parliament have told the Supreme Court they may take their case to the High Court of Australia.

Members of the Network Against Prohibition were convicted by the Darwin Magistrate's Court in June, after being charged with invading Parliament.

Gary Meyerhoff, Mick Lambe, Stuart Highway and Robert Inder-Smith are appealing the ruling.

The group entered the chamber during a sitting in May last year, protesting against the government's drug-house laws.

The hearing lasted a month and several members of Parliament were subpoenaed to give evidence.

Mick Lambe told Justice Steven Bailey he had sent a petition to the High Court asking it to look into the case, which he described as unprecedented in the Northern Territory.

Justice Bailey agreed the unusual nature of the case might catch the Court's interest.

On the matter of the appeal, he adjourned the hearing to allow the group to get proper legal representation.

This article was published on Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Online on November 25, 2003.

Deluding themselves

2003-10-10T23:26:00.000+09:30

Gary Meyerhoff (Northern Territory News October 8, "Unpragmatic drug laws") seems to think that the law should not be enforced if someone strongly objects to them as he, Luke Masters and others did by objecting to NT drug house laws.

Such a society would be completely unworkable. Laws are enforced by the authorities for order.

Anything else would be as unreasonable as his explanation of the rise in Hepatitis C figures.

Under more than 17 years of harm minimisation drug policies, its supporters have talked up the benefits such as reducing Hep C and other blood-borne viral infections, despite drug use, crime, etc all rising over time.

When a report exposes their delusions they don't like it and blame zero tolerance, but harm minimisation is weakened by constant campaigns to see drug use as normal.

In a democracy he is free to seek election to parliament to debate those laws, not to protest them by breaking them.

Michael D. Robinson
executive director
Drug Free Australia LTD

This letter to the editor was published in the Northern Territory News on the 10th of October 2003.

Thai solidarity: Drug user activists tackle the Thai terror

2003-07-09T07:23:00.000+09:30

“End the drug war now” say needle nymphs in New York, methed-up militants in Moscow, direct-action druggists in Darwin, cranked-out campaigners in Canberra and global goodie-gobblers.

On June 12, drug user activists, non-user supporters of drug law reform and human rights campaigners came together in cities around the globe to protest the Thai government’s drug war.

More than 2000 drug users and “dealers” have been killed in the six-month campaign. Children and family members of targeted users have died or been badly maimed by getting caught in the line of fire.

Police monitoring and early morning raids have touched the lives of around 40,000 Thais. The government is forcing people, without trial, into what it calls “detoxification and rehabilitation”. Users are subjected to torturous, generally unmedicated, withdrawals -- at one “camp” users were kept chained by their hands and feet 24 hours a day, for a month.

For years, drug users have been fighting for social justice, better health services, law reform and an end to the US-led war on drug users. When users around the world face abuses as severe as the situation in THAILAND, we know the chances of similar atrocities being visited on us are higher. We will offer solidarity to our brothers and sisters overseas, knowing it will be returned for our struggles.

The policies in THAILAND are unprecedented in their terror -- and have been responded to with unprecedented user organisation, coordination and activity.

From Bangkok, Karyn reports that in the days leading up to and following [the] June 12 [actions], press releases, letters to Thai PM Thaksin [Shinawatra], photos, and other updates about international actions in solidarity with Thai Drug Users’ Network flowed into its centres. Messages were recieved from Japan to Manipur, Germany to Darwin, New York to Sydney, and London to Cambodia.

TDN says: “Thank you!! We felt you with us. We thought of you often and your spirit fed our spirit.”

On the morning of June 12, more than 60 TDN members and allies, primarily members of the Thai Network of People Living With HIV and AIDS and the Thai NGO, Coalition on AIDS, gathered in the Bangkok heat. Starting across from Government House on Pitsanuloke Road, the protesters crossed the road toward the military guards, carrying body bags, funeral accoutrements, banners and signs.

The signs included slogans like “The next corpse could be... your relative” and “Does forced rehabilitation really work, Mr Prime Minister?” Bangkok traffic provided a great audience, and news cameras and reporters trailed the parade.

Ten of the protesters were invited to present the groups’ letter, intended for the prime minister, who was out of town. Instead, they met with four individuals from the national task force on drugs, including a representative from the office of narcotics control bureau and someone responsible for public health issues.

After nearly an hour’s discussion, the task force representatives agreed to set up a meeting between the activists and the deputy prime minister. From Government House, protesters went to Parliament, where Senator Jon Ungphakorn received the letter.

No Thai press reported the protest, though on June 10 the local English-language Nation, had run a story on it.

In Sydney, the NSW Users & AIDS Association (NUAA) sponsored a briefing prepared and delivered by Stephen Wye, editor of Users News. Wye recently spent just under three months in Chiang Mai, collaborating with Thai drug users and doing volunteer work for the International Harm Reduction conference. The briefing was attended by 25 user-activists, drug law reform campaigners and service providers.

Later that day, drug-user activists, gathered by a front-group under the mysterious heading of FLUID -- Front for the Liberation of Users of Illicit Drugs -- held a picket outside the Thai consulate-general in Sydney.

The deputy-consul general invited picketers to meet with him in his office, saying that his willingness to listen meant “there is no need for protest.” Activists stressed that the Thai government should listen to Thai drug users and involve them in policy making.

From Melbourne, Joe Kim reports that 40 people attended a fundraiser for the Thai Drug Users Network. Organised by the recently formed Victorian Harm Reduction Alliance, the brought together people from all walks of life who use illicit and licit drugs. People nodded, smiled, laughed, drank, smoked, slurred their speech, shook their heads to the music, felt restless, talked incessantly, and more, all within the confines of a safe space.

Pier Moro and Joseph Kim spoke on behalf the alliance and Din of Inequity, Plastic Shake-Up Snow, and the funky female DJ Sneelock performed.

From Darwin, Nicolette reports that the Network Against Prohibition held a public forum on July 11. Gary Meyerhoff gave a short informal presentation to summarize his recent experiences in THAILAND developing solidarity with drug user activists there.

The next day, NAP members held an information stall in the busy Smith Street Mall. An official NAP delegation attempted to present a petition to Liberal MP David Tollner calling on the Australian government to help end the Thai drug war.

NAP also held a banner drop on July 13.

From Canberra, Nicky Bath reports that 30 people were joined by two local politicians in a solidarity protest on July 12. Nicole, from Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy, read out the TDN letter.

From London, Sandra reports that around 20 people held a solidarity action. Actions wee also held in Birmingham where a copy of the TDN letter was presented to officials at the Thai embassy.

From Moscow, Vitalik reports that two dozen activists, including members of the Radical Party, maintained a picket, chanting and displaying slogans.

From New York City, Donald Grove explained that “30 people came to the Thai Mission to the United Nations for an action organized by ACT UP. We displayed signs and chanted: “Clean Needles not bullets! AIDS treatment not bullets!”, “War on Drug is a lie! Thai cops kill, users die!” and, in Thai “Mai ka pu sep ya! (Stop murdering drug users)” The demands of TDN were read out to the crowd, and a letter was delivered to the head of the Thai UN delegation.

This article was written by Michael Arnold and published in the Green Left Weekly on July 9, 2003.

Round two

2003-06-27T07:23:00.000+09:30

By the time you read this story, the fate of Emma Corro, Robert
Inder-Smith, Nicolette Burrows and Gary Meyerhoff, will have been decided by Darwin's Magistrate's Court. In an attempt to defuse protest activity in the Northern Territory, the Clare Martin Labor government passed legislation through the Northern Territory Assembly in late 2001 to stop activists using occupations as a political tool.

Four members of the Northern Territory Network Against Prohibition group, an organisation that is fighting to highlight the Clare Labor government's draconian drug laws, face the prospect of spending the next seven years in jail if they are found guilty of the charge of business invasion, an offence which is directly aimed at stopping activists using occupations as a political tool. No other Australian State or territory government has introduced such draconian legislation to deal with peaceful protests.

Emma, Nicolette, Gary and Robert were charged with business invasion and trespass as a result of a peaceful thirty minute occupation of the Chief Minister, Clare Martin's electoral office on the 1st of August 2002, the day that the Northern Territory drug house laws came into force. The only other time that the offence of business invasion has been used, was late last year when a number of network Against Prohibition activists occupied the Northern Territory Chief Health Officers office to show their
concerns about the effects of the new drug house laws. One activist was acquitted of all charges, the others were found guilty of trespassing. The trespassing charges are being appealed.

In a hearing that's set down to last three days, the four accused will be facing about 12 prosecution witnesses, eleven of whom are police. The Network Against Prohibition activists will be defending the stand they took in court.

It's important that radical activists across the country keep a close eye on what's happening in the Northern Territory.

If the accused are found guilty of the charge of business invasion and are sentenced to long terms in prison, for what up to now has been considered to be legitimate political action, it won't be long before other States toy with the idea of passing similar legislation to deal with protestors who use direct action to highlight an issue.

For further information or to arrange an interview, contact Gary on 0415 162 525 or Nicolette on 0418 985 701. Have a look at NAP's website http://www.napnt.org email napnt (a) bigpond.net.au, write to them at N.A.P., 19 Gilbert Street, Ludmilla 0820, Northern Territory, Australian or telephone them on +61 (0) 889 420 570.

This article was published in the Melbourne based Anarchist Age Weekly Review on June 27, 2003.

NT campaigners face prison after parliament protest

2003-06-15T19:23:00.000+09:30

TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

The Panel speaks to Gary Meyerhoff from the Network Against Prohibition about his recent arrest. Barrie Cassidy begins by asking him about his protest in the NT Parliament which could result in jail term of up to five months.

BARRIE CASSIDY: We've been waiting to catch up with somebody in Darwin and we've just made the connection. There's a political story unfolding up there that I don't we can allow to slip under the radar. The Labor Government there has passed new drug laws. If you're convicted three times, they're entitled to put a large, bright green sign on your door declaring your house a drug house, and anyone going near it can be searched. A group of five drug law reform campaigners invading the Parliament in protest, they were arrested, convicted and now they're going to jail for up to five months. And one of them is Gary Meyerhoff and he joins us now. Good morning.

GARY MEYERHOFF, NETWORK AGAINST PROHIBITION: Good morning, how are you?

BARRIE CASSIDY: Tell me what happened that day when you protested in the parliament?

GARY MEYERHOFF: Well, it basically all happen quickly. We were in the public gallery for a while, just watching events and we were waiting for the drug house legislation to be debated. There was about 10 of us. We moved down from the public gallery and into the main foyer of the Legislative Assembly and we did intend just to have a demonstration at the doors to the chamber. To our surprise the doors were open and we actually entered and tried to speak to the politicians about the legislation.

BARRIE CASSIDY: You were convicted, as I understand it, under a law that goes back to the 17th century and was actually designed to deal with Oliver Cromwell?

GARY MEYERHOFF: We've had legal advice that it hasn't actually been used anywhere in Australia and possibly not in the Westminster system. This is the first time that people have been sentenced to jail for this sort of offence.

ANDREW BOLT, 'HERALD SUN': Well, thank goodness for that, Gary, I hope you use your time in jail, should it come to that, to reflect more wisely on a few things. Can I just check which Gary Meyerhoff are you? You're the Gary Meyerhoff, for a start, that was a Socialist Alliance candidate?

GARY MEYERHOFF: I have run for the Socialist Alliance.

BARRIE CASSIDY: I don't think there is a 17th century law that bars that, Andrew.

ANDREW BOLT: No, but it goes to the agenda that Gary is running. You're also the Gary Meyerhoff, aren't you, that advocated a marijuana smoke-in, which is against the law, and said "this was a perfect opportunity for people to voice their concerns about US imperialism." Is that the same Gary Meyerhoff?

GARY MEYERHOFF: That's correct, and we actually have those smoke-ins every month...

ANDREW BOLT: More seriously, are you the Gary Meyerhoff that did work for an Aboriginal health service that the Commonwealth pays to cut drug use?

GARY MEYERHOFF: Well, I was an employee. ANDREW BOLT: And said that it did not condone the use of drugs. What is your real agenda here?

KAREN MIDDLETON, THE 'WEST AUSTRALIAN': Let him answer you.

GARY MEYERHOFF: I've been involved in an area called harm reduction for some time, you're obviously a prohibitionist and you support the current approach of the Australian Government, of State and Territory governments, they're causing untold harm to Australia's young people. And some of us have actually been working up there trying to reduce the harm that people that are going to use drugs anyway regardless of how long you throw them in jail, your sentences, your propaganda. A lot of people are using drugs anyway more than ever before in Australia. We should be looking at how can we actually reduce the harm and look at why do we have problematic drug use in the first place. And that's what I was doing at the Aboriginal health service, and that's work that I've been involved in for some time.

BARRIE CASSIDY: I'm sorry, we have to leave it there. Thank you for your time this morning, Gary. We took a while to get the link and we have to move on.

GARY MEYERHOFF: No worries.

Broadcast by Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the Insiders Program on Sunday June 15, 2003.

Australian Drug Law Reform Campaigners Face Jail

2003-06-07T07:23:00.000+09:30

In 5 June 2003 at 10am in the Darwin Magistrates Court in Northern Australia, Magistrate Dick Wallace will hand down sentences for five drug law reform campaigners, Ema Corro, Mick Lambe, Gary Meyerhoff, Rob Inder-smith and Stuart Highway. The five were last week found guilty of `deliberately disrupting the legislative assembly whilst it was in session'.

The charge, never before used in the Westminster system, was introduced after the actions of Oliver Cromwell in the 17th Century. It has a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment, and the magistrate has advised that a prison sentence will be highly likely.

Eleven people last year disrupted the proceedings of the NT Legislative Assembly whilst in session, to protest against the Labor government's Tough on Drugs `drug house' legislation.

One of the defendants Gary Meyerhoff said, `This trial has highlighted the need for a bill of rights in Australia. The NT government, through their Magistrate Dick Wallace, has eroded our right to freedom of speech and expression.'

`The drug house laws are still in force in the NT and people still risk having a 1.2 metre high fluorescent green sign posted on their front door and the prospect of police raids without warrants on a continual basis. Imprisonment will not deter Network Against Prohibition activists and this human rights campaign will continue until the repeal of the drug house legislation and full rights for users of illicit drugs in the NT and beyond.'

For further information on the NAP campaign see http://www.napnt.org

To arrange an interview call NAP on: 61 8 8942 0570 or 0415 16 2525

Published in the Sydney based Family Drug Support June/July 2003 newsletter.

Jail terms for House invaders

2003-06-06T07:23:00.000+09:30

Five members of a drug protest group who invaded the Territory Parliament last year were sentenced yesterday to actual jail terms of four and five months.

Head sentences imposed by Magistrate Dick Wallace ranged from 21 months to 16 months - not far short of the maximum under the Criminal Code of two years.

Yesterday he sentenced NAP leading light Gary Meyerhoff, 28, and Robert Inder-Smith, 43, both on bail at the time for another offence, each to 21 months' jail, suspended after five months.

He sentenced Stuart Highway, 40, and Emma Birkeland-Corro, 23, to 18 months' jail, also suspended after five months.

He sentenced Michael Lambe, 45, who he said had not been so involved in the planning, to 16 months' jail, suspended after four months.

Late yesterday after the five lodged appeals against conviction and four against sentence, Mr Wallace granted each self-bail of $2000.

Mr Wallace said the appeal could take at least three or four months to come before a Supreme Court judge and he believed the five would remain in the Territory to prosecute their appeal.

The main objection to bail was the risk of reoffending.

The magistrate warned them: ``Any suggestion of any of you breaking the law, I promise you your bail will be revoked and you will be serving your sentence.

``If you continue to pursue your political objectives I can only advise you to be as circumspect as possible.''

After signing their bail forms the five left Darwin Magistrates Court after spending about 5 1/2 hours in the cells there.

The five had pleaded not guilty to disturbing the Legislative Assembly in session on May 14, 2002. The hearing spanned 13 days and involved several politicians called as witnesses by the group known as the Network Against Prohibition (NAP).

This article, written by Bob Watt, was published in the Northern Territory News on June 6, 2003.

Activists sentenced to jail

2003-06-05T19:23:00.001+09:30

Five activists who illegally entered the Northern Territory's legislative assembly last year to protest against the Government's drug house legislation are going to jail.

It has been the longest criminal hearing in Darwin's Magistrate's court that many can remember.

Last May, with four others, the group entered the Territory's Parliamentary chamber while it was in session, armed with placards.

Magistrate Dick Wallace said none of the offenders had shown any remorse, and indeed felt proud of what they had done.

Michael Lambe received 16 months in jail, suspended after four months because his role in the protest was not planned.

Stuart Highway and Ema Birkeland-Corro received an 18-month term to be suspended after five months.

Gary Meyerhoff and Robert Inder-Smith received the harshest penalty because they were on bail for another offence at the time.

Published on Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Online on Wednesday June 5, 2003.

PM - Protestors who stormed NT Parliament sentenced

2003-06-05T19:23:00.000+09:30

TRANSCRIPT

MARK COLVIN: In the Northern Territory five people have been sent to prison for invading the parliament while it was sitting last year. They're among nine members of the pro-drug Network Against Prohibition, who stormed into the chamber and waved placards at MPs.

Today's sentences ranged from 16 to 21 months, although most will spend only 5 months behind bars. The case could set a precedent in Australia, and as Anne Barker reports, it's raised questions about freedom of speech.

PROTESTER: I don't think that we need any more proof that we live in a police state. We've seen 5 people locked up…

ANNE BARKER: It's believed to be the longest running criminal case in Darwin's magistrate's court.

PROTESTER: … The eroding of human rights under the name of the war on drugs.

ANNE BARKER: And today, after a public commotion outside, it ended with jail terms for five anti drug-law protesters, who with four others stormed the Northern Territory parliament in may last year while it was in mid session.

GARY MEYERHOFF: If the Government locks us up I think there'll be a lot of people around Australia and around the world who aren't very happy and, you know, they'll continue actions, despite the fact that we're locked up.

ANNE BARKER: Gary Meyerhoff, who spoke to the media, shortly before he was jailed for five months, is the most outspoken member of the Network against Prohibition, which took the protest against new drug laws introduced last year, to lengths rarely, if ever seen in Australia – barging through the main door to the legislative assembly, which was unlocked and unguarded, and parading through the chamber waving placards at the sitting MPs.

For ten minutes the Parliament was in chaos. The protesters took over the speaker's chair and even jumped onto the dispatch table that runs down the centre of the chamber. In recent weeks every Government minister has appeared in court, except for Minister John Ah Kit who was outside the chamber smoking at the time.

All of them, including the Chief Minister Clare Martin, have since attested to the seriousness of the incident.

CLARE MARTIN: The Network against Prohibition had never actually approached the Justice Minister to ask to talk to him about the issues they were concerned about. It was simply a stunt to break into parliament the way they did. It is something that will not be tolerated and I think the jail sentences are certainly reflecting that.

ANNE BARKER: But one constitutional lawyer has questioned whether the court has gone too far. Professor Gerard Carney from Bond University says while parliamentary procedure must be protected, there's a fine line between that and the infringement of the right to free speech.

GERARD CARNEY: As a constitutional lawyer, I hesitate to comment on sentencing policy, but as a citizen, from what I've read, it seems an extraordinarily harsh sentence to impose on protesters who are putting forward an important political view, albeit in a fairly dramatic fashion.

ANNE BARKER: Is it even appropriate for a court to deal with this matter or should it be dealt with by the parliament itself?

GERARD CARNEY: That's an interesting point because each house of parliament is normally vested with authority to control its own proceedings and certainly to eject members of the public who are making a nuisance of themselves in the chamber.

And the question is, if you do charge people with an offence arising from serious conduct of that nature, the view is that it's better for the courts normally to prosecute those matters rather than leave it with the house itself.

At least with courts you have a purely independent, impartial forum, but in this case, it is strange that in following what is perceived to be the better practice of leaving it to the courts, they've ended up with a sentence probably much more harsh than what the house itself might have imposed.

MARK COLVIN: Professor Gerard Carney from Bond University, speaking to Anne Barker.

This report was broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's 'PM' radio show on June 5, 2003. Anne Barker was the reporter.

Five jailed for invading Assembly

2003-06-05T07:23:00.000+09:30

FIVE people have been jailed for invading the Northern Territory parliament while it was sitting last year.

The five were among nine members of the pro-drug Network Against Prohibition (NAP) that stormed the legislative assembly to protest proposed tougher drug laws on May 14 last year.

Four of the five will spend five months in jail, and the other four months after receiving sentences ranging from 16 to 21 months with much of the terms suspended.

The group entered through an unlocked door and spent about 10 minutes in the chamber, waving placards, taking over the speaker's chair and jumping onto the dispatch table that runs down the centre of the chamber.

Gary Meyerhoff, Michael Lambe, Robert Inder-Smith, Emma Birkeland-Corro and Stuart Highway were found guilty of disturbing the legislative assembly after one of the longest running Magistrates Court criminal hearings in NT history.

All had faced one charge each, and all had pleaded not guilty.

Half the legislative assembly was called to give evidence in the Darwin Magistrates Court, including Chief Minister Clare Martin, several other ministers and Opposition members.

Ms Martin had told the court she felt scared and intimidated when the protesters "burst" into the parliamentary chamber.

She was also questioned about her own former drug use, having admitted to using cannabis about 20 years ago.

Magistrate Dick Wallace today described the civil disobedience offence as serious, and said none of the accused had shown any remorse over their actions.

Further, the accused appeared proud that they had taken part in committing the offence, he said.

"Most of them at one time or another have said that they would do it ... again," Mr Wallace said.

Citing the need to deter both the individuals involved and others in the community from repeating the offence, he sentenced Birkeland-Corro and Highway each to 18 months' jail, suspended after they had served five months.

Inder-Smith and Meyerhoff, who were both on bail at the time of the offence, received sentences of 21 months, also suspended after five months.

And Lambe, who Mr Wallace felt was not involved in organising the parliamentary intrusion, received a 16-month jail sentence, suspended after four months.

The maximum sentence for disturbing the legislative assembly is three years in jail.

Outside the court, NAP member Michael Barry said the group would immediately appeal against the sentences.

"That they are going to lock people up for speaking out and protesting, it's a nasty precedent," Mr Barry said.

"All it shows is how willing the state is to come down heavily on ordinary people should they dare to put a finger out of line.

"I think a lot of it has been payback for the injured dignity of the politicians."

Published in the Courier Mail on June 5, 2003.

No favour plea made

2003-06-04T07:23:00.000+09:30

A leader of a group which invaded the Territory Parliament in Darwin a year ago told a magistrate yesterday he did not want to be treated any differently to his co-defendants.

Magistrate Dick Wallace had been told that leading light in the Network Against Prohibition (NAP) group Gary Meyerhoff had a terminal illness.

Mr Wallace, presiding over the hearing for five of the group who pleaded non guilty to disturbing Parliament on May 14, 2002, is due to sentence the five tomorrow.

He invited Meyerhoff to submit a medical report on the progress of his disease.

In relation to his condition, Meyerhoff told Mr Wallace yesterday: “I don’t want to be treated differently.”

This article was published in the Northern Territory News on June 4, 2003.

Facing jail in Aussie for protest

2003-05-24T07:23:00.001+09:30

A Former New Waltham man is facing court action in Australia over his campaign for drug law reform.

Gary Meyerhoff (28), who emigrated to Australia in 1984, has been charged with a criminal offence after he protested against controversial drug laws at a state parliament in Darwin, Northern Territory. Last year, he was arrested after he and eight others managed to get into a Parliament building and interrupt a debate
about the new laws.

The Northern Territory has introduced "drug house" laws, which allow police to have properties declared "drugs premises", with a metre-high sign attached to the door. The law allows police to raid the property at any time and to stop and search anyone coming within 200 metres of the property.

Mr Meyerhoff has been charged with deliberately disrupting the Legislative Assembly while it was in motion.

He has pleaded not guilty to the offence and if found guilty he will be sentenced in the next few weeks, facing a maximum penalty of three years in jail. He plans to take his case to a higher court if the verdict goes against him.

A co-ordinator of the Network Against Prohibition (Nap), he has also been involved in "smoke-ins", where people smoke cannabis at public places in Darwin. The events attract scores of people and several arrests have been made.

Nap wants all drugs, from cannabis to heroin, to be legalised.

Mr Meyerhoff said: "We are pushing for full drug law reform, but obviously we are taking this one step at a time.

"Ultimately, we do not think prohibition is effective. It just forces things underground."

He still has many relatives in the Grimsby area and has visited North East Lincolnshire several times.

Mr Meyerhoff has witnessed the problems heroin and other drugs cause in Grimsby, but thinks high drug use is a product of other social problems, like unemployment.

A former pupil of Enfield Primary, New Waltham, he said: "There is definitely a huge lack of services for people and there hasn't really been an organised response by drug users themselves to fight for better services.

"A lot of the problems I saw would have been related to the prohibition."

The result of the court case is expected in the next fortnight.

This article, written by Ruth Armstrong, was published in the UK-based Grimsby Evening Telegraph on Saturday May 24, 2003.

Shorten jail term pleads HIV man

2003-05-24T07:23:00.000+09:30

The sentencing of seven people charged after invading the Territory Parliament inn Darwin a year ago has been adjourned to next month.

The five found guilty on Thursday by Magistrate Dick Wallace of disturbing the Legislative Assembly on May 14, 2002, made submissions yesterday.

Leading light in the Network Against Prohibition (NAP) group Gary Meyerhoff, submitted that he should be given a shorter sentence because he had a terminal illness.

Mr Wallace said because Meyerhoff was HIV positive he should obtain information on the progression of the disease.

The magistrate adjourned Meyerhoff’s case to June 3 for him to submit a medical report.

Yesterday afternoon Mr Wallace heard sentencing submissions for Aaron Stallard-Bryce, 20, and Luke Stan Masters, 20 (both 19 at the time) who pleaded guilty to the charge of disturbing the Assembly.

Defence lawyer Ian Read said both were very concerned they would receive an actual jail term.

They had pleaded guilty at a fairly late stage, continuing with the proceedings with the older defendants because they were “misinformed”.

Mr Wallace told Masters he would not send him to jail and adjourned his sentencing to June 3.

For Stallard-Bryce he ordered a home detention assessment and adjourned his matter to June 6.

This article, written by Bob Watt, was published in the Northern Territory News on May 24, 2003.

5 guilty of NT House invasion

2003-05-23T07:23:00.000+09:30

Five people who invaded the Territory Parliament while it was sitting in Darwin a year ago were found guilty yesterday of disturbing the House of Assembly.

Magistrate Dick Wallace said the May 14, 2002 incident was "the most serious disturbance of the Legislative Assembly in the history of the Territory".

Yesterday afternoon marked the end of the long hearing during which many witnesses including Chief Minister Clare Martin were called.

Mr Wallace said: "In my view, the elements of the charges are clearly made out against the defendants who had no authorisation, justification or excuse for their actions.

"I find the case proved against all five defendants."

Before the court were Gary Meyerhoff, Stuart Highway, Emma Birkeland-Corro, Robert Inder-Smith and Michael Lambe.

The magistrate said the next stage was submissions on sentencing and invited the five to get legal representation.

He adjourned the hearing to today.

Mr Wallace said he would hear sentencing submissions from Ian Read, lawyer for Luke Masters and Aaron Stallard-Bryce, who each pleaded guilty to disturbing the Assembly.

Mr Wallace, giving reasons for his decision, said the five he found guilty were associated with a group called the Network Against Prohibition (NAP).

Before Parliament was the drug house legislation, increasing powers under the Misuse of Drugs Act, which the NAP opposed.

"They intended to make a show, bring their case to the wider world by upsetting the deliberations of the Assembly," the magistrate said.

"I am satisfied the five… did acts which were absolutely designed to disturb the Assembly with the purpose to publicise the cause for which NAP was brought into being."

This article, written by Bob Watt, was published in the Northern Territory News on May 23, 2003.

Drug Law

2003-03-07T07:23:00.000+09:30

Transcript

BARBARA MCCARTHY: The Darwin Magistrates Court has been a centre of attention this week for journalists and camera crews.

They've witnessed a parade of NT politicians, including Government ministers, who've been subpoenaed to give evidence in a long-running trial of five protesters who invaded the debating chamber in Parliament House last year.

The protesters managed to shut down the Parliament for several minutes before security guards removed them.

They've pleaded not guilty to disturbing Parliament while it was in session.

They were opposing the Labor Government's tough new drug laws which enable police to put warning signs on premises where they suspect drugs are being used or sold.

The Government says the laws recognise the link between drug abuse and property crimes.

Murray McLaughlin reports.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN, STATELINE REPORTER: Meet Darwin's public enemy number one.

Gary Meyerhoff leads a ragtag bunch called Network Against Prohibition -- known as NAP -- committed to protesting against the NT's new drug laws.

The Government says the laws were an election promise, that the previous CLP Government didn't recognise the problem of drugs.

CLARE MARTIN, NT CHIEF MINISTER: This package is about Government recognising the problem, it's recognising the link between drugs and property crime, up to 50 per cent of property crime linked to illicit drug use.

It's about putting in place a package to deal with it.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: The new drug laws had been flagged on the first day of the new parliament after Labor's election 18 months ago.

Parliament gave police the powers to slap signs on premises if they find drugs there on three occasions, and thereafter to search the premises without a warrant.

Last May, on the eve of debate of the drugs laws, Gary Meyerhoff and his cohorts from NAP stormed the Parliament chamber in Darwin while it was in session.

Placards were held aloft.

Slogans were shouted.

Chaos reigned for several minutes till the invaders were dragged out.

They're now before the Magistrates Court on charges of disturbing Parliament, liable for gaol up to three years.

GARY MEYERHOFF, NETWORK AGAINST PROHIBITION: We barge in and we're as surprised as the politicians are because we thought the door would be locked so we never actually thought we'd get in there.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: NAP members had tangled with the police before their invasion of Parliament.

A rally in Darwin's CBD turned ugly last April although Meyerhoff's arrest for loitering was later deemed illegal by the Ombudsman.

Since then, police have not so much thrown the book as crushed them with the whole library.

Over 100 charges have been laid against 15 members over the past year.

As for police enforcement of the new drug laws -- there's been only one place in Darwin declared a drug house -- a government housing unit occupied by a 54-year-old grandmother.

Police found about 400 grams of cannabis here on three visits before they arrived with a panoply of officials and news media to witness the declaration two months ago.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: It also cost Margot Laughton an eviction notice from her government unit.

PAUL HENDERSON, NT POLICE MINISTER: It goes to show that Government will not play favourites in any of this.

It doesn't matter if you're dealing drugs out of private accommodation or public's housing, you will be dealt with in exactly the same manner.

MARGOT LAUGHTON, DRUG HOUSE TENANT: I'm just an aged grandmother who smokes marijuana and I will admit it till the day I die and nobody will stop me, but they will never catch me again.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: Margot Laughton was homeless for several weeks after she moved out of her government unit.

This week she moved into private accommodation.

She claims she uses marijuana for medical reasons, and admits to having traded some.

She's now known on Darwin talkback radio as 'Gunja Granny', and says her life has been shattered.

MARGOT LAUGHTON: It's just gone downwards.

Persons that were my friends avoid me they cross the street when they see me, they don't want to be seen in public with me.

GARY MEYERHOFF: The only people that have been targeted so far have been people in the lower income bracket.

Indigenous people have been targeted and clearly this law is not going to stop the trade of illicit drugs in the NT.

If anything it's going to force things underground and make life harder for people.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLAN: Justice Minister Peter Toyne wouldn't talk about the drug laws because of the ongoing trial against NAP members for their invasion of Parliament.

Mr Toyne was in court on Wednesday, as a witness in those cases, keen to avoid any confrontation with NAP members by accessing the court from its underground car park.

But his defence of the new laws is on the record.

PETER TOYNE, NT ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The ordinary-everyday-weekend drug user is not the target of this program.

We want to cut the supply of drugs into our community.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLAN: Peter Toyne was the first of a long line of parliamentarians to appear in court as witnesses to the charges of disturbing Parliament.

Each evening for the past fortnight, NAP members have met after court to plan their defence.

They've been given a copy of the in-house video recording of the invasion.

Concerned about how the scenes might be viewed beyond the NT, the Speaker has banned news media from broadcasting the tape, under pain of jail or hefty fine.

NAP members were this week offering copies for sale outside the court.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLAN: The trial itself is consuming immense resources, and the defendants have been surprised at the tolerance of the presiding magistrate.

GARY MEYERHOFF: I think at the end of the day a few of us are going to get locked up and so maybe he's taking it easy on us throughout the hearing.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: To be colloquial, he's let you away with murder.

GARY MEYERHOFF: I've said that myself a number of times.

MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: They'll have to wait till mid-year to know their fate.

After this week, the trial will be adjourned till May, when Chief Minister Clare Martin is due to appear as a witness.

Broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Stateline program (Northern Territory)on March 7, 2003. Reporter: Murray McLaughlin.

Group defends broadcast of Parliament tape

2003-03-03T07:23:00.000+09:30

Members of the Network Against Prohibition, charged over the invasion of the Northern Territory Parliament last year, were selling and showing the security video of the incident at a Darwin market yesterday, despite a court order not to broadcast the tape.

Magistrate Dick Wallace ordered the group not to broadcast the tape or place its contents on the Internet after he agreed to let them copy it on their own equipment.

The speaker of the Territory Parliament also ordered the group not to broadcast the tape.

But the group's Gary Meyerhoff does not believe he is in contempt of the court or parliament orders.

"I think people have a right to see this video and if the Parliament want to move a motion to throw me or someone else in jail for six months well that's up to them," he said.

"But as I said this is our right to freedom of speech, we went in to Parliament, that was our right to freedom of speech, and now were letting people know what happened."

This story was broadcast on ABC radio news and was published on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Online website on March 3, 2003.

A-G Accused of being in contempt of court

2003-02-17T07:23:00.000+09:30

In the Darwin Magistrates Court the Network Against Prohibition has accused the Northern Territory's Attorney-General of contempt of court.

The court is hearing a case involving an incident last year when a group of protesters stormed the Legislative Assembly to protest against new drug laws.

Seven members of the network, charged in relation to that incident, have appeared in court this morning.

Gary Meyerhoff told the court he has written to the Director of Police Prosecutions, Rex Wilde, asking him to investigate whether Attorney-General Peter Toyne's comments, made during an interview on ABC radio in September last year, are in contempt.

Mr Meyerhoff told the court today during that interview Dr Toyne mentioned his name and said the public was sick of the Network Against Prohibition and its actions.

Mr Meyerhoff said he was concerned that other magistrates may have heard that interview.

The hearing will continue this afternoon after the network was unsuccessful in its attempt to have it adjourned for several weeks.

Published on Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Online on Monday February 17, 2003 and archived by the Media Awareness Project.

Dope protest ends quietly

2002-11-11T20:44:00.000+09:30

A potentially violent clash between police and pro-marijuana protesters failed to materialise during a “smoke-in” in Darwin on the weekend.

The Network Against Prohibition (NAP), led by pro-drugs campaigner Gary Meyerhoff, had planned a “smoke-in”, but were foiled by Darwin City Council who refused it a permit to use Raintree Park and turned off the power supply on Saturday.

Despite a heavy police presence, NAP members confined their activities to speeches on the abuse of civil rights in the Territory and called for an end to the “war against Iraq”. There were no arrests.

NAP’s last protest on October 12 ended in a running battle with officers and damage to police cars estimated at $10,000.

This article was published in the Northern Territory News on the 11th of November 2002.

Smoke-in protesters fear police raid

2002-11-09T19:23:00.000+09:30

Darwin's Network Against Prohibition says it fears a police raid on its seventh smoke-in this afternoon.

The network's Gary Meyerhoff says the monthly protest against drug laws will go ahead in Raintree Park, despite a refusal by Darwin City Council to issue a permit for the event.

The council offered protesters the option of meeting in Civic Park but Mr Meyerhoff says the venue is not suitable.

"We are concerned that in Civic Park due to the fact that it's sort of out of the central business district there won't be many people around," he said.

"It will be easier for the police to harass or attack even the peaceful protesters."

The protest meeting was due to begin at midday ACST.

This was published on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday November 9, 2002.

Fun and games in the Territory

2002-10-30T07:23:00.000+09:30

Since its first smoke-in for human rights was conducted on the 20th of April this year, Darwin's Network Against Prohibition has been openly challenging the Northern Territory's Marijuana laws. Although the Northern Territory police disrupted their first smoke-in, and two arrests were made, NAP members were left alone when they challenged the law in June, July, August and September by conducting public smoke-ins in Rain tree Park in central Darwin.

On Saturday the 13th of October, things changed. Two undercover police officers who had sampled the community hookah called in four uniformed police to seize the device as it couldn't be ruled out that marijuana hadn't been added to the donated herbal mixture. When participants at the NAP B.B.Q, smoke-in and music festival resisted attempts to have the community hookah confiscated, police reinforcements were called in to seize the implement. By this time, NAP members, egged on by a few hundred spectators, became involved in scuffles with the police as they attempted to drag away the hookah. In the ensuing melee, five protestors were arrested and jailed until they signed bail conditions which prevent them from associating with each other till after their trials.

Two females aged 23 and 24, and three males aged 27, 39, and 41, have been charged with a variety of offences including criminal damage, hindering police, disorderly conduct, assaulting police and interfering with a motor vehicle. On the 17th of October, four days after the arrests, Mick Lambe and Gary Meyerhoff, two organisers of the first smoke-in, on the 20th of April, had charges brought against them for their involvement in the April smoke-in dismissed in the Magistrate Court by Magistrate Daynor Trigg. However, another NAP member, Nicolette Burrows, was found guilty of contempt of court for expressing her elation at their acquittal. She had to cool her heels in the courthouse lock-up for a few hours and had to pay a thirty-dollar fine.

Further information about the Darwin smoke-in for human rights can be obtained by telephoning 0415 162 525. NAP can be e-mailed at napnt (a) yahoo.com. Surf their website at www.napnt.org to keep up with NAP's campaign to have the Northern Territory¹s drug laws repealed. Thanks to our correspondent in the Northern Territory for providing us with the information for this article.

This article was published in the Melbourne based Anarchist Age Weekly Review on October 30, 2002.

Contempt for judge

2002-10-18T18:20:00.000+09:30

A supporter of pro-drugs campaigner Gary Meyerhoff spent about two hours in the cells of Darwin Magistrate’s Court yesterday after being cited for contempt of court.

When police withdrew three charges against Meyerhoff, which arose from the first smoke-in at Raintree Park on April 20, Nicolette Burrows clapped and cheered loudly.

Magistrate Daynor Trigg, presiding in Court 1, told her to stop and Burrows gave the magistrate a mock salute.

Mr Trigg, ordering Burrows be taken into custody, said she had disturbed the proceedings and shown “contempt in the face of the court”.

Burrows, brought up from the cells about 12.20pm, began talking about “accusations of bias” against Mr Trigg.

But Mr Trigg explained he was the sole decider of contempt proceedings and it was not possible to plead not guilty.

“If it is going to make you feel better I will apologise,” Ms Burrows said.

Mr Trigg said Burrows personal view did not matter – as a magistrate he represented a position.

“I deal with the flotsam and jetsam of society – all sorts of people,” he said.

“I put up with a lot of behaviour and I try to let it wash over me,” he said.

Burrows told Mr Trigg hers had been a “natural reaction” to the charges “over which we had all been stressing” being dropped.

“I’m sorry if you were offended when I saluted you,” she said more contritely.

“That was offensive,” the magistrate said.

He found Burrows guilty. Advised she was a student on a benefit, he fined her $10 with a $20 victim levy, allowing 28 days to pay.

Burrows said “Thank you.”

This article, written by Bob Watt, was published in the Northern Territory News on Friday October 18, 2002.

Illicit Drugs Taskforce Report

2002-09-25T07:23:00.000+09:30

Minister for Health and Community Services Jane Aagaard has released the report of the Illicit Drugs Taskforce, saying it marks another important milestone in the fight against illicit drug use in the Territory.

“The release of the Report… addresses the issues of education, support and treatment for users of illicit drugs such as heroin, amphetamines and illegally acquired prescription drugs,” Mrs Aagaard said.

“The Government has allocated $500,000 this year for the implementation of the taskforce findings”.

The Network Against Prohibition’s (NAP) Gary Meyerhoff said the Report was a step in the right direction, “but falls well short in terms of adequately addressing the needs of dependent opiate users in the NT”.

“NAP strongly support the establishment of a methadone maintenance program in the Northern Territory, however, a range of options need to be available to dependent drug users,” Mr Meyerhoff said.

Mrs Aagaard said there are between 1000 and 4000 intravenous drug users in the Territory and the Government is committed to addressing the issue which has been ignored for far too long.

Key initiatives to be implemented include:

• Support programs which will include the employment of additional specialist health professionals such as nurses, a pharmacist, a psychologist, a liaison worker and a doctor,

• The establishment of a 24 hour hotline to provide support and advice to individuals, families, health professionals as well as an enhanced education program,

• Changes to legislation to allow maintenance programs which include the Commonwealth approved range of pharmacotherapies such as buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone. Buprenorphine will be the drug of first preference for treating drug users, and

• Improving the capacity of existing service providers to better cater for the needs of drug dependent patients.

Mrs Aagaard said the adoption of the Taskforce findings will bring the Territory into line with laws and practices available in other jurisdictions.

However, NAP said the Government is relying on two drugs (buprenorphine and methadone) to act as magic bullets, without providing appropriate detoxification services.

“Although we support the use of methadone, it is an extremely addictive drug and has serious withdrawal effects,” Mr Meyerhoff said.

“We argue strongly for pharmaceutical quality heroin (diacetylmorphine) to be made available to dependent and recreational users in the Territory.

“Trials of heroin have been successful in Europe and the NT was well placed to follow this lead with the establishment of the Illicit Drugs Taskforce.

“The major flaw in the Government’s strategy is that they ran the taskforce on illicit drugs in concert with a major police offensive on drug users in the NT.

“This police offensive is seriously impacting on the ability of drug users to reduce drug related harm.

“If they were serious about addressing problematic drug use in our community they would start by ending the incarceration of generation after generation of young people due to draconian drug laws,” Mr Meyerhoff said.

Mr Meyerhoff said that the closure of a residential detoxification centre in Coconut Grove would make it difficult for dependent users to get support for detoxification. He said that users who attempted to detox at home would have difficulty in getting the support that they needed in a safe space.

However, a spokesman for the Health Minister said that there were other residential detox services that users could access, including Banyan House, Royal Darwin Hospital and Amity House.

He said the Coconut Grove service had received little patronage, and now operated as an outreach centre.

The spokesman said that the new pharmacotherapies would be available from the end of the week, and people would be able to access them through their health care professionals.

He said a number of general practitioners had undertaken training to learn about prescribing the drugs.

Published in the Litchfield Times in the Northern Territory September 25, 2002.

Disturbing video request denied

2002-08-31T07:23:00.000+09:30

A request by Channel 8 television to screen a security video showing protesters storming the Territory parliament in May was refused yesterday.

Magistrate Vince Luppino dismissed the application in Darwin Magistrate's Court.

The video is expected to be part of a case against Gary Meyerhoff, 27, and five other defendants, set down yesterday for a two-day hearing on October 31 and November 1.

The six face a charge of disturbing the Legislative Assembly on May 14.

Prosecutor Senior Sergeant Peter Thomas said the prosecution consented to a summary trial in the Magistrate's Court.

Meyerhoff said the defendants would prefer a committal hearing, which would take the matter to the Supreme Court.

Mr Luppino noted the defendants' presence.

Published in the Northern Territory News on August 31, 2002.

Protesters acquitted on loitering charges

2002-08-15T07:23:00.000+09:30

Two men were acquitted yesterday of charges laid after they took part in a protest outside the Justice Department in Mitchell St in March.

Magistrate Greg Cavanagh dismissed refusing to cease loitering charges (sic) and found a charge of causing substantial annoyance not proved.

"Even if what you did cause some (sic) annoyance, I cannot be (sic) find that it was substantial," Mr Cavanagh said.

But he told Gary William Meyerhoff had he continued to use the megaphone for much longer than he did, he might have been found guilty of the annoyance charge.

Meyerhoff and Stuart Highway each pleaded not guilty to having failed to cease to loiter when requested by police at Darwin on March 22.

They pleaded not guilty, also to unreasonably causing substantial annoyance to another person (sic).

Mr Cavanagh, requested by the prosecution, issued a warrant for the arrest of a third man charged Robert Paul Inder-Smith, who did not appear.

The hearing, set down for two days, finished soon after the lunch break and before any defence witnesses were heard.

Mr Cavanagh did not think there was a case to answer on the loitering charge considering what the group did for 25 minutes, having forewarned the office (sic). He did find a case to answer on the second charge but did not think the annoyance was "substantial".

This article was published in the Northern Territory News on August 15, 2002.

Santa gets jolly over right to go up in smoke

2002-07-14T07:23:00.000+09:30

Santa Claus made a rare July visit to Darwin yesterday to lend his support to the Network Against Prohibition.

A slightly trimmer Santa held up the network's 1.4m joint at Raintree Park in defiance of the Government's zero tolerance approach to drug users.

"We've got a Christmas in July theme in the park so I thought I would drop in and help them out," he said.

"It's a slow time of the year for me and NAP relies on donations and volunteers so I thought I would volunteer to help the cause along."

NAP co-ordinator Gary Meyerhoff said the network had more than 600 signatures on a petition protesting the Government's drug house legislation which was recently passed in parliament.

Mr Meyerhoff reminded Territorians that yesterday's "Smoke-up for Human Rights" was not about using drugs but a demonstration against the new laws.

"The only way we're actually going to change the drug laws is by getting out on the streets and doing events like this because we failed al all other attempts like writing to government," he said.

"Things are getting worse for drug users and the war on drugs is raging all over the world. It's not about us smoking dope.

"When we're talking human rights it's not the right to smoke dope, but it's the right not to have your house searched by police all the time and cavity searches and people look in your bank accounts.

"The effects that will happen because of these laws, like searching without a warrant and declaring it a drug house and mandatory sentences for people caught in there, is only going to target specific communities."

Mr Meyerhoff said young and indigenous Territorians were already targeted by police and the Government's new laws would make it easier for this to happen.

Published in the Sunday Territorian July 14, 2002.

Heed the new drug laws and don't be such a dope

2002-07-10T07:23:00.000+09:30

Good morning to you; it's great to have your company, was how I started my radio show for many years. So, as I swap the black microphone for the pen, I though I should start this column in the same way.

Today's topic is dear to many Territorian's hearts - the increasing use of illicit drugs and the mistaken belief of many small-time cannabis users that they are simply enjoying themselves and not breaking the law.

In the 20 years I've been in Darwin I've watched the youth of this great part of Australia gradually become involved with drugs - and we've all witnessed the resultant increase in property crime.

As an individual who admits to popping the odd Panadol or two in my lifetime, I must hereby confess to have never taken any illicit drugs, and that includes whacky backy (sorry Chief Minister).

I guess this puts the way I see this topic in complete disagreement with those of Gary Meyerhoff and his Network Against Prohibition group.

The previous government was quoted as seeing the drug problem in the Territory as "a miniscule problem", even though any school kid could always tell you where and how to obtain drugs.

A famous solution to the problem a few years ago from former CLP minister Fred Finch was to buy drug users a single bus ticket out of town, and send them back to a state where drug laws were more lenient than in the NT.

But from August 1 the ALP Government's new Tough on Drugs package will come in to effect. This will see changes designed to give police the tools they need to help stamp out the drug problem.

Police will be able to declare residential, commercial or licensed premises as drug premises, and they will have increased powers to search them without a warrant.

This change alone has caused concern to many hoteliers and restaurateurs.

However, if it reduces the sale of drugs to our younger generation, I am all for it.

A new offence of possessing recipe books for the manufacture of amphetamines will not worry any of our gourmet chefs with a French or bush tucker cookbook.

New police powers to detain individuals for the purpose of a medical examination, where they are suspected of internally concealing or swallowing drugs, should bring about some messy evidence in court.

The Criminal Property Forfeiture Bill enables police to confiscate the ill-gotten gains of declared drug-traffickers.

A declared drug trafficker is a person convicted of three serious drug offences.

Once declared a drug trafficker, all property owned or controlled by that person, and all property that was given away by that person, will be forfeited to the Territory.

Justice Minister Dr Peter Toyne's new laws will target dealers, traffickers and manufacturers, and provides a stronger tool for NT police in their fight against illicit drug use and the related increase in property crime.

Now, just when you thought these new laws were only to catch the big guy, a word of warning to people who only use cannabis occasionally, and perhaps have the odd plant or two growing in a pot on the balcony.

Police Commissioner Paul White says: "Cannabis is an illegal drug and it is an offence to possess or use any amount no matter how small.

"Police can, and will issue an infringement notice which results in the offender invurring a monetary fine, similar to a speeding fine.

"The law relating to possession of small quantities has been decriminalised but possession has not been legalised.

"A survey conducted in 1998 showed 25 per cent of Top End residents either grew or possessed cannabis, and wrongly believed they were not breaking the law."

That seems pretty clear. And I know the increased presence of undercover drug squad police at most nightspots certainly has not gone unnoticed by the regula ragers and pill poppers.

They'd be well advsied to give up the drug scene and go back to the old way of enjoying the evening.

A combination of tougher new drug laws, an increased police presence, and a growing concern by the public, can only lead to a safer place for us all.

And, just maybe, our children will be discouraged from experimenting with a potentially dangerous and expensive habit.

That's the way I see it.

This article was written by columnist Col Newman and printed in the Northern Territory News on July 10, 2002.

Push to smoke dope in cafes

2002-06-09T07:23:00.000+09:30

DARWIN's empty shops should be made into coffee shops where patrons can freely smoke marijuana, a Territory man says.

Pro-marijuana campaignner Gary Meyerhoff is hoping this willturn Darwin into Australia's Amsterdam.

Mr Meyerhoff, co-ordinator of the Network Against Prohibition, wants all illicit substances legalised and made clear his feelings during a community smoke-in at Darwin's Raintree Park yesterday.

He was joined by dozens of others fighting the Territory's drug laws with a "com,munity joint" symbolising their efforts.

Mr Meyerhoff said the 1.2m-long joint would grow by 20cm every month during the term of the current government unless drugs were legalised.

"We're calling for marijuana to be legalised immediately," he said.

"There should be licensed dealers set up in the suburban areas and in the regional areas and in the city, there should be cannabis cafes established under some sort of government control and regulation."

Mr Meyerhoff said "Smoke-up for Human Rights" would be a monnthly event aimed at building the movement against the Government's drug house and asset confiscation legislation and the war on drugs in general.

A small police contingent turned out for the second smoke-in but no arrests were made. Mr Meyerhoff was one of five pro-marijuana activists arrested at April's smoke-in which saw protesters lie on the ground to stop the police paddy wagon taking away their leader.

Yesterday's smoke-in attracted more opposition from shop owners than police.

PalmPhotographics manager Len Menzies was upset by the noise emanating from Raintree Park and promised to send the Darwin City Council a letter expressing outrage.

"This is supposed to be a peaceful park," he said.

"My customers have told me they don't want to come here while this happens, it's over the top."

But Mr Meyerhoff said the smoke-in passed on benefits to shop owners.

"If you look at all the empty shops around Darwin, any event that brings people to Darwin is extremely important for local business," he said.

This article was written by Edwin Edlund and published in the Sunday Territorian on June 9, 2002.

Editors note: The name Meyerhoff was spelt Mayerhoff twice and I amended this to reflect the proper spelling.

May Day Global Demonstration

2002-06-07T07:23:00.000+09:30

Darwin - people rallied on the streets of Darwin on May 1 in conjunction with protests across the country. Activists held up bannerswhichh spelt "free the refugees" outside the Coonawarra Naval Base due to the federal governments plans to use a refugee detention centre built there recently.

At noon, protesters converged in Raintree Park where David Pollock from the Greens party spoke about the effect of genetically engineered crops, global warming, water management and various environmental issues. Jose Evaristo, former refugee from East Timor spoke of local and international issues ranging from the lack of a union movement for local taxi drivers to solutions for a better integration of East Timor with the rest of the international community.

Chris Atkinson from Resistance spoke of the plight of international students at the hands of the Department of Immigration, local police and the Northern Territory University which refuses to take responsibility for its full-fee paying overseas students.

Local artists held workshops and performed songs as diverse as Bob Marley's "get up stand up" to an R&B version of Madonna's "material girl". A street theatre performance was also held which parodied world leaders and their efforts to oppress the masses for wealth, military superiority and territory. Banners and placards bearing the words "Israel out" and "living wages" were handed out to the chanting crowd who then proceeded to the first destination of the march which was the Northern Territory Trades Hall.

Jamey Robertson, the local organiser for the AMWU, spoke of the significance of May 1 for workers around the world and reminded people not to forget the deathhs of those who fought for workers rights. Allan Patton from the CEPEU on the current state of union activism in Australia, said was "disorganised and didn't know what they want". After the speech made by the unionist the crowd made their way towards the Department of Immigration.

Simon Hall from the Independent Education Union made an impassioned speech about the cost of DIMIA's racist policies to ordinary people's lives and how it created divisions within the Australian community. Nathan Zweck M.D. from the Darwin Refugee Health Network told the crowd the costs of detaining refugees in detention centres and the so-called "pacific solution" as opposed to much more humane ways such as the UK model at which point someone from the crowd shouted "I don't wanna pay for it!"

The crowd then headed for the Darwin Defence Recruitment Agency while chanting "lock up Ruddock - throw away the keys! We won't stop till we free the refugees!" Robin Waite fromASIET called for a cessation of military ties by Australia with Indonesia and quoted Megawani SurkanoPutri on a speech she gave to Indonesian troops on how to escape accountability and blame during military operations.

Just across the road from the DDRA is the Department of Justice where Gary Meyerhoff, organiser of Network Against Prohibition or NAP spoke about the Northern Territory governments harshh laws on drug users, mainly the drug house legislation and the still active public order and anti-social conduct act. Meyerhoff said that the NT government stance on the drug issue was just another way to further victimise already oppressed minority groups such as gay and indigenous groups.

This article was written by Ryk Molon and published in the Charles Darwin University student union newspaper Delirra in June 2002.

Is nothing sacred?

2002-05-19T07:23:00.000+09:30

There were more antics in the Northern Territory Parliament not of the pants variety, thankfully, in this post-Baise Moi environment when the Network Against Prohibition stormed the chamber last week.

The group's leader, Gary Meyerhoff, sat in the Speaker's chair and made the highly significant gesture of spilling water over the desk before security guards dragged him away. Other members stood on the Assembly's main table carrying banners claiming the Territory is a police state.

All this, apparently, was designed to show opposition to new drug laws the Territory's Labor Government plans to introduce.

Meyerhoff is a veteran trot who ran as a Socialist Alliance party candidate at the 2001 Territory election and, yes, ever since they lost the right to lock up black kids for stealing packets of biscuits the Territory Police have no doubt been twiddling their thumbs but have they really set up a police state? On the basis of their Falconio performance, could they even begin to put one together?

Published on Crikey.com on May 19, 2002.

What is average?

2002-05-17T07:23:00.000+09:30

How can Gary Meyerhoff, the leader of the Network Against Prohibition, justify his claim to being the average Territorian.

The average Territorian does not have contempt for the law, does not have contempt for our parliament and does not have contempt for our government.

The average Territorian is more concerned with living their lives in peace, being given the opportunity for themselves and their family to live in safety, and enjoying the opportunities the Territory has to offer.

The average Territorian would also be more interested in doing well in their job in order to be able to enjoy their chosen lifestyle, than they would be in legalising drug use and accepting the health costs resulting in the recreational use of yet another drug.

Imagine the public health costs that would have been saved if tobacco smoking was never legalised in the first place.

I would suggest that if Mr Meyerhoff truly wants to be called an average Territorian, that he rise above his current level as an agitator, get a job, and contribute in a meaningful way to the Northern Territory community.

Ron Kelly
Jingili

This letter to the editor, written by Ron Kelly, was published in the Northern Territory News on May 17, 2002.

Protesters storm parliament

2002-05-14T19:50:00.000+09:30

PROTESTERS against drug prohibition have stormed Northern Territory's Parliament House, disrupting a sombre session in which respects were being paid to a stolen generations member.

An NT police spokeswoman said about 11 people invaded the Legislative Assembly main chamber about 12.30pm (CST) today.

Some protesters climbed onto the main table and one of the group sat in the speaker's chair before being dragged away by security guards.

The spokeswoman said it was believed today's intruders were the same group of people who had conducted protests outside parliament in the past few days.

She said police intended to lay charges.

"Police have seized videotape of Parliament House and are currently investigating the matter with a view to laying charges," she said.

Network Against Prohibition's Gary Meyerhoff told ABC radio his group had stormed the chamber as part of a campaign to mobilise the community against the Labor Government's proposed anti-drug legislation.

"We don't know where these drug laws have been pushed from but they're certainly not coming from your average Labor member in the NT," he said.

"It's coming from somewhere else and it's important that we stand up and resist this sort of legislation."

This article was published in the Herald Sun and the Courier Mail on the 14th of May 2002.

Protesters storm NT Parliament

2002-05-14T07:23:00.000+09:30

Security at Parliament House in the Northern Territory has been tested today after 11 protesters stormed into the main chamber.

Northern Territory parliamentarians were in a sombre mood this morning because they had been paying respects to a Stolen Generations member. But the atmosphere quickly turned to confusion when members of the Network Against Prohibition ran into the Legislative Assembly.

The group's leader, Gary Meyerhoff, sat in the Speaker's chair spilling water over the desk before security guards dragged him away. Other members stood on the assembly's main table carrying banners claiming the Northern Territory is a police state.

Security officers and one plain-clothes detective took nearly 10 minutes to eject the group. The protesters are alleging the security officer and policeman used undue force. Police are now trying to get a copy of the Parliament's security video.

The network has defended its action. Mr Meyerhoff says he wants to mobilise the community to fight against the Labor Government's proposed anti-drug legislation that he says will take a zero tolerance approach to drugs.

"We don't know where these drug laws have been pushed from but they're certainly not coming from your average Labor member in the Northern Territory," he said. "It's coming from somewhere else and it's important that we stand up and resist this sort of legislation."

Published on Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Online, May 14, 2002 and archived on napnt.org.

Drug-induced delusions

2002-05-08T07:23:00.001+09:30

I am sending a reply to Mr Meyerhoff's letter. Mr Meyerhoff - until now, I have left your drug-induced delusions to yourself.

Today, I open my email to find that you have somehow acquired my company's email address, and have chosen to force your bewildering ideas at me.

I have two young children, I do my best at teaching them right from wrong, so when confronted with their peers who have failed to receive this basic training fromirresponsible idiots such as yourself, they have a fighting chance of not falling for their idiotic peer pressures.

Your choice of indiscriminately sending out your misleading, irresponsible and disillusioned e-mail to all parts of society, including the young and impressionable, is downright sinful.

I did not subscribe to your ill-conceived viewpoints, nor would I want to.

How many other people did you blast your e-mail to? How many of them asked to receive such nonsense?

Of course I was disappointed to learn that you were dragged 20m, bleeding, to a police van - it should have been the coroner's van.

Now, please Mr Meyerhoff - get out of your drug induced world, pull your head in, and learn some respect for the greater society, and those who uphhold the law, making this society safe for us all, and please stop inciting dishharmony and reckless and illegal activities.

David Fleming

Darwin

This letter to the editor was published in the NT News on May 8, 2002.

Afternoon of M1 protests

2002-05-08T07:23:00.000+09:30

DARWIN- M1 was kicked off, Kate Stockdale and Ryk Molon report, by the early morning appearance of banners emblazoned "Free the refugees" outside the empty Coonawarra detention centre.

At noon, 60 activists gathered in Raintree Park for an afternoon of speeches, banner painting and street theatre. Highlights included speeches by former East Timorese refugee Jose Evaristo and Resistance's Chris Atkinson and performances of the Bob Marley song "Get up, stand up" and an R&B version of Madonna's "Material girl".

At 4pm, protesters marched to the Northern Territory Trades Hall, where Australian Manufacturing Workers Union organiser Jamey Robertson and the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union's Allan Patton addressed the crowd.

The march proceeded to Darwin's immigration department offices and the defence forces recruitment offices before finishing at theh Department of Justice, where Network Against Prohibition spokesperson Gary Meyerhoff condemned the NT's proposed "drug house" legislation. NAP set up a "tent embassy" in front of Parliament House, vowing to stay there until it is clear the drug laws have been abandoned.

This article was published in the Green Left Weekly on May 8, 2002.

Pro-drug campaigners quiet on International Ganja Day plans

2002-05-04T19:23:00.000+09:30

Despite being arrested twice in as many weeks Gary Meyerhoff, from the Network Against Prohibition, says there will be a protest in Darwin today in support of International Ganja Day.

He says campaigners for more lenient drug laws will protest in 190 countries around the world today.

However Mr Meyerhoff is keeping quiet on the details.

"At this stage all I can say is that it will include a BBQ and some sausages" he said.

"I really don't want to give out too much information at this stage because you know, we are going to have to review our tactics a little bit in light of the behaviour of the police and the zero tolerance approach that they're taking to our organisation."

This article was published on the Australian Broadcasting Corporations News Online on May 4, 2002.

Up in Smoke

2002-05-04T07:23:00.000+09:30

There were no arrests during a “non-traditional smoking ceremony” on the steps of the Territory Parliament yesterday.

Gary Meyerhoff, of the Socialist Alliance, yesterday said 12 people played music and smoked marijuana at Parliament House as part of International Gunja Day.

“The day was observed with activities in 190 cities worldwide,” Mr Meyerhoff said.

This Article was published in the Sunday Territorian on May 4, 2002.

Tent Embassy 4 arrested

2002-05-03T07:23:00.000+09:30

Four protesters were arrested outside Parliament House last night.

The protesters, part of a tent embassy outside Parliament House to rally against the Government’s proposed new drug laws, were arrested at 7pm after they failed to comply with a directive to move away from inside the legislative precinct. The four were being processed in the watchhouse at Berrimah Police Headquarters last night.

Following the arrests, the tent embassy appeared to be abandoned.

The group had planned to protest for a week from Wednesday night.

This article was published in the Northern Territory News on May 3, 2002.

Protest group in tent vigil

2002-05-02T07:23:00.000+09:30

A handful of protesters set up a tent embassy outside Parliament House last night to protest against the Government’s proposed new drug legislation.

The embassy was set up without incident, with police leaving the area before the main body of protesters arrived.

The group’s last demonstration, on Saturday, April 20, in Raintree Park, ended in violent struggles with plain-clothed and uniformed police as five pro-marijuana activists were arrested.

Network Against Prohibition’s Gary Meyerhoff said the group would maintain its vigil outside parliament house for at least one week.

“In a couple of weeks the Government is going to be passing drug legislation which our organisation opposes – we are opposed to prohibition and we’re also opposed to the zero tolerance policing policy which exists in the Territory.”

This article was published in the Northern Territory News on May 2, 2002.

Protester may lodge complaint against police

2002-04-22T07:23:00.000+09:30

Darwin police say a man arrested at the weekend in relation to a cannabis protest has the right to lodge a complaint about the behaviour of police officers.

Police arrested six people during the protest against proposed changes to the Northern Territory's drug laws.

The Network Against Prohibition's Gary Meyerhoff has criticised the way police dealt with the situation.

Acting Superintendent Bob Rennie says Mr Meyerhoff can pursue the matter.

"If he believes members were, in his words, over the top there are other avenues he can follow in respect of having those issues investigated," Superintendent Rennie said.

This article was published on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's News Online website on April 22, 2002.

Ugly scene

2002-04-21T07:23:00.000+09:30

Five pro-marijuana activists were arrested yesterday when police targeted their leader at a protest in Darwin’s Raintree Park.

About 20 uniformed officers and plain-clothed detectives were at the rally.

Protesters chanted “NT police state we do not appreciate” while others yelled at police “this is a peaceful protest” and “what is he being arrested for?”.

The arrests were made before Network Against Prohibition (NAP) protesters could smoke what was touted as Australia’s biggest joint.

The action, condemning the NT Government’s proposed new drug legislation, attracted more than 40 protesters and about 100 onlookers.

Police moved in when NAP activist Gary Meyerhoff began speaking.

Mr Meyerhoff lay down while officers held him.

Fellow activists circled the officers, linking arms to prevent him being removed.

Police eventually placed four protesters, including Mr Meyerhoff, in a paddy wagon.

Then protesters lay on the ground to stop the vehicle leaving.

Mr Meyerhoff said, as he was being driven away by police; “This is police brutality. I have not been told I have been arrested nor what I am being taken away for.”

Police later explained that Mr Meyerhoff had been issued with an infringement notice and was warned not to come back to Raintree Park or he would be arrested.

After the arrests, the protest quietened down as the group listened to reggae music.

Some people appeared to smoke joints, despite the heavy police presence.

The protesters then lit up the metre-long “joint”, which contained herbs.

Police arrested a man who smoked from the “joint” for an apparently unrelated offence. NAP activist Scott White said the arrests had been made to prevent criticism of the Labor Government.

“Clare Martin wants to double the drug force, but it’s a sham – they will simply target small users,” he said.

“Eighty per cent of Darwin people smoke pot and it’s a part of the NT lifestyle.

“All we want to do is be able to smoke a joint without being harassed by police.”

An NT Government spokeswoman said the drug legislation, to be introduced next month, was aimed at drug traffickers.

Police said three of those arrested had been summonsed for hindering police and released.

A man was charged with loitering, aggravated assault and resisting arrest and a second man with hindering police, resisting arrest and possessing cannabis.

Both men were released to appear in Darwin Magistrates Court this week.

This article, written by Suellen Hinde, was published in the Sunday Teritorian on April 21, 2002.

Protesters to smoke 3ft joint

2002-04-19T07:28:00.000+09:30

MARIJUANA enthusiasts are threatening to smoke a 90cm joint as part of protest action in a central Darwin park tomorrow.

Network Against Prohibition spokesman Gary Myerhoff said a prototype of the "three foot joint" had been successfully tested.

"We had a team of four or five experts working on the community joint and it took a number of prototypes," Mr Myerhoff told ABC radio today.

"We had to have a break halfway through the process."

The network has promised two bands, a free barbecue and face painting for children in Raintree Park as part of their protest against state government policy on cannabis.

"It's going to be an opportunity for people to come out and show their concern at the Labor government's approach to this whole issue," Mr Myerhoff said.

"We really thought that the days of the head-in-the-sand approach of the CLP (Country Liberal Party) were over and we're actually seeing much more of a zero tolerance by the Labor Party than anyone expected."

This article was published by Australian Associated Press on April 19, 2002. It also appeared in the Melbourne Age newspaper with the title '90cm joint to centre in cannabis protest action'. I have amended the spelling of my surname. AAP reported it as Myerhoff.

Pot smokers face police probe

2002-04-13T07:23:00.000+09:30

A handful of territory cannabis smokers face being investigated by police after admitting they smoked pot.

Six protesters from the Network Against Prohibition – carrying statutory declarations – filed into Darwin police station.

They said the protest was designed to highlight the “absurdity” of the NT Government’s zero-tolerance approach to illicit drug use.

The declarations were signed by a commissioner of oaths based at Northern Territory University.

But their hopes of arrest were dashed when acting superintendent Bob Rennie, officer-in-charge at Darwin station, said the claims would be investigated.

“We appreciate your assistance and will investigate the claims,” he said.

Article published in the Northern Territory News on April 13, 2002.

Raiders of the lost arc

2002-04-12T19:23:00.001+09:30

Host: That the force is really with you . . . well at least two superheroes, one renegade bushranger and Santa, have joined the movement, using their superpowers to protest against the Northern Territory Government’s drug law reforms. Matt Henger, our reporter, joined the fantastic four who’ve gone to the green side on their latest and most dangerous mission.

Gary Meyerhoff on megaphone: “This is a community service announcement just warning people . . . we’re dangerous criminals, we’re marijuana smokers and we’re about to hand ourselves in at the Darwin Police Station . . . four serious criminals here that have been apprehended by our friendly police officer Magilla Gorilla, and he’s taking us to the police station where we will hand ourselves in for smoking cannabis.

Matt Henger: after scouring the city, I tracked down our superheroes in Darwin’s Smith Street mall. It was there that Batman, Robin, Ned Kelly and Santa were divulging a secret plan to just about anyone in earshot of the megaphone.

Gary Meyerhoff: Be warned that we are serious criminals, we are cannabis smokers, and it is our civic duty to hand ourselves in at the Darwin Police Station.

Matt Henger: Greeted with a secret handshake, Batman, better known as Gary Meyer’off, told me the four were unhappy with proposed changes to the NT’s drug laws which would see an end to the infringement notice system for pot offences and reforms to make it easier for police to raid houses, shops and nightclubs for drugs.

Gary Meyerhoff: Under the current Government, the police actually need to have um, you know much more evidence to get a search warrant for a premises, a house or a nightclub, but under this new legislation, you know, they just need to get less evidence to prove to a magistrate that there maybe - there MAYBE – dealing or drug activity happening in that house and that house is declared a drug house, and the police no longer need a warrant to raid that house. They can raid it as many times as they want, ten times a day . . .

Matt Henger: The fantastic four chose high noon to make our stand and it was just about then when a mall cop showed up flexing his muscles and overpowering our heroes, forcing them to begin our journey a little earlier.

Gary Meyerhoff: . . . freedom of Speech . . .

Deep Male Voice: You want freedom of speech you need a permit mate, OK, for the mall.

Gary Meyerhoff: So you’re not going to let us make an announcements in the mall?

Deep Male Voice: Nah nah, not allowed to mate.

Gary Meyerhoff: We’re moving down to the police station anyway.

Deep Male Voice (over Gary Meyerhoff): Do you have permission to do so?

Matt Henger: Along the way, Batman uncoded a secret message on the wall.

Gary Meyerhoff: . . . marijuana posters here that one of our supporters has stuck on a window and it’s been ah, scratched up and it says, ‘have a haircut have a bath, get a job and get a life’, and somebody has put, ‘I’ve got a job and short hair and I smoke cannabis’. I think that’s a lot of people in the Territory that have a job and have short hair, that smoke cannabis.

Matt Henger: Half-way to the station, and my mere mortalness was taking its toll. ‘And ah, still making our way down to the play station in ah, Smith Street in Darwin, it’s a bit of a walk, it’s ah, it’s a bloody hot afternoon, too, I can tell you that. Dunno about a smoke, but I can definitely do with a drink after this.’

Gary Meyerhoff: Santa has come all the way from the North Pole to admit that he smoked cannabis on December 25th, 2001, when he was in Darwin. Somebody left him some biscuits and a glass of milk and a joint of sinsemilla, and so Santa, being a good civic-minded citizen, is also handing himself in at the Darwin local police station. We’re now arriving in the Darwin Police Station, we’re being handed in.

Superintendent Bob Rennie: Stuart (yes) Robert (yo) Scott (grunt) Chris??? Gary (yep).

Superintendent Bob Rennie: This is your full and correct name and address.

Gary Meyerhoff: It is.

Superintendent Bob Rennie: And you signed this statement in front of a commissioner of oaths?

Gary Meyerhoff: That’s right.

Superintendent Bob Rennie: Thanks very much gentlemen, we appreciate your assistance in the matter, what we’ll do is ah, we’ll take it on board and we’ll investigate it, and if we decide there’s sufficient evidence here for a prosecution, you may receive a summons in the mail, or you may receive a drug-infringement notice. Thanks very much for your time.

Gary Meyerhoff: Thank you.

Superintendent Bob Rennie: Thank you.

Matt Henger: While our masked, bearded and tin-hatted crusaders did manage to walk away, their leader Gary Meyer’off, didn’t think they were going to be so lucky.

Gary Meyerhoff: We thought it was fifty-fifty, that a 50 per cent that they’d arrest us . . . uhm on the spot, ah, but yes, I am quite surprised, especially with the hard line that they’re taking um, and you know, we are serious offenders, we smoke cannabis.

Matt Henger: And what now for our superheroes?

Gary Meyerhoff: We just need to raise funds now, to ah hire our costumes, at our trial.

Host: Batman and his band of merry men pursing their fight in the Top End for the right to smoke cannabis on the morning show at six-minutes to midday, that’s it from us today.

This broadcast from April 12, 2002, put together by ABC journalist Matthew Henger for youth radio station Triple J, was transcribed by NAP member Rob Inder-Smith.

NT mandatory sentencing under fire

2002-04-12T19:23:00.000+09:30

Four members of Darwin’s Network Against Prohibition today will hand to police signed statutory declarations admitting to the self-administration of cannabis.

Gary Meyerhoff, Rob Inder-Smith, Scott White and Stuart Highway will hand in the statements to Darwin’s police station to highlight what they say is the absurdity of Northern Territory’s drug laws.

Mr Meyerhoff admits two previous convictions for the possession of cannabis in Western Australia and an infringement notice in the NT, which says he refused to pay.

He says he wants to highlight the fact that mandatory sentencing lives on in the NT drug legislation.

“Under the current legislation, section 37 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, any second or subsequent appearance in court for a breach of the Misuse of Drugs Act gets a minimum 28-day mandatory sentence,” he said.

“I mean Clare Martin came to power and was saying there’s no mandatory sentencing in the Territory then why do we have these provisions for drug users.”

This article was published on Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Online on April 12, 2002.

Dope users' police plan

2002-04-12T07:23:00.001+09:30

Several marijuana users will surrender to the police today as part of their campaign against the NT Government's proposed "drug house" laws.

The activists - members of the Network Against Prohibition intend to tell the police they have self-administered a dangerous drug - cannabis.

Campaigner organiser Gary Meyerhoff said several previous offenders would have also surrendered, except for the possibility of a mandatory 28 days in jail.

The mandatory sentence is prescribed for second or subsequent offence by Section 37 of the territory's Misuse of Drugs Act.

Mr Meyerhoff said the aim of the voluntary surrender was to "highlight the absurdity of a zero-tolerance approach to drug use".

The campaigners will surrender to the police at their temporary city headquarters in the AANT building on Smith St at noon.

This article was published in the Northern Territory News on April 12, 2002.

Protesters assume alias to admit to marijuana use.

2002-04-12T07:23:00.000+09:30

Four Darwin marijuana users have given signed statements to police, admitting to the self-administration of cannabis.

Protesters from the Network Against Prohibition arrived at Darwin’s Smith Street police station in fancy dress to hand themselves in for cannabis use.

Gary Meyerhoff dressed as batman, Stuart Highway dressed as Robin, Scott White disguised as Ned Kelly, and Rob Inder-Smith in the distinctive red and white of Father Christmas, handed police signed statements admitting to self-administration of cannabis.

Acting Superintendent Bob Gibbs received the statutory declarations, and thanked the protesters.

He warned if there was sufficient evidence a summons or infringement notice may follow by post.

This was published on the Australian Broadcasting News Online on April 12, 2002 and on the Oz Bikers website.

Editors note: There were two mistakes in this report. We have inserted the correct spelling for Rob Inder-Smith. The ABC called him Inges Smith. Acting Superintendent Bob Gibbs was actually Bob Rennie.

Self administration

2002-04-11T19:23:00.000+09:30

Host: . . . “stat-dec” stating that they smoke dope regularly. Gary Meyerhoff from the Network Against Prohibition is in the studio with me today to tell us about it, as he terms it calling the police’s bluff, good morning.

Gary Meyerhoff: G’day how are you?

Host: Not too bad thanks, interesting that you call it a bluff given the last few days.

Gary Meyerhoff: Yeah well obviously, there’s been a a lot of pressure put on the police service and they’re trying to come through with the goods and pander I suppose to that you know, more repressive element in our community, and so we have sort of seen a recent spate of drug busts and I mean we’ve got to keep in mind that Peter Toyne has promised that there will be a major offensive against drug use and drug dealing in June, so this could just be an indication of what there is to come.

Host: So exactly what is happening tomorrow and why?

Gary Meyerhoff: OK well at 12 o’clock tomorrow, a small number of people will attend the Darwin local police office in Smith Street, and um, we’ll have supporters there with us and we’ll actually be handing ourselves in at the police station, admitting that we smoke cannabis and um, we technically should be charged by police for self-adminstration of a dangerous drug and therefore we’ll have to go to court and ah, we’re basically using this tactic to really highlight the absurdity of the drug house laws and the absurdity of Clare Martin, Peter Toyne and Peter White’s approach to illicit drug-use in the Northern Territory.

Host: So you expect an infringement notice?

Gary Meyerhoff: Actually no, infringement notices only apply to people caught with possession of small amounts of cannabis, we’re actually handing ourselves in for smoking cannabis, that’s what we’re admitting to, and the charge then would be self-administration of a dangerous drug, namely cannabis, which has a maximum penalty I think of two years’ jail.

This broadcast from Thursday, 11 April 2002 on 105.7 ABC Darwin was transcribed by NAP member Robert Inder-Smith. The host is not identified however it is likely that it was Cherie Beach.

Drug law protesters arrested

2002-04-10T07:23:00.000+09:30

DARWIN – A small group of protesters gathered outside the Northern Territory Department of Justice on March 22 to voice their opposition to the Labor government’s proposed “drug house” legislation.

The proposed legislation if implemented, will give police increased powers to search and apprehend people in their homes or in nightclubs.

The protest was called by the recently formed Network Against Prohibition (NAP). The protesters aimed at occupying the building to demand a meeting with justice minister Peter Toyne, but they were blocked from entering by a heavy police presence.

“NAP will employ direct action tactics to keep the pressure on the NT Labor government,” NAP spokesperson Gary Meyerhoff told Green Left Weekly. “Prohibition has failed all over the world and Labor should be dismantling this system rather than reinforcing it.

“NAP members are also extremely alarmed that Police Commissioner Paul White has targeted cannabis and has promised to target people at the bottom level of the trade.”

Forty minutes after the protest began, police ordered the protesters to leave. When the order was ignored, police arrested five protesters and charged them with refusal to obey a police order.

This article, written by Owain Lewis-Jones, was published in the Green Left Weekly on April 10, 2002.

Court date set for protesters against drug prohibition

2002-04-04T19:23:00.000+09:30

Five members of the Network Against Prohibition have pleaded not guilty in the Darwin Magistrates Court to charges of loitering, causing annoyance and disorderly behaviour.

Gary Meyerhoff, Robert Inder-Smith, Stuart Highway, Shane Gibbs and Scott White were arrested and charged after a sit-in protest against drug house legislation on the steps of the Justice Department last month.

The five appeared briefly before Registrar Brenda McGarrity and after making pleas, were released on bail until May 13.

The Network members objected to an initial court date of May 8, as they intend to take part in a protest on that day.

This article was published on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's News Online website on April 4, 2002.

Not so radical

2002-04-01T07:23:00.000+09:30

There needs to be a fuller appreciation of illegal drug use in our community. The fact a recent operation nabbed more tablets than that for the whole of last year should make us think about how many more deals of this relatively small size (by my calculations, less than $50K) go unnoticed.

The drug supply chain is unaffected by these busts, even for the so-called “Mr Bigs”.

For each of these persons prosecuted, how many more exist and will take their place?

And what of the people without their hits of ecstasy and speed?

They’ll have to arrange another deal and, in the meantime, settle for cigarettes and alcohol, which are far more addictive and damaging to the body.

But that’s okay because these substances are socially acceptable, especially in the NT, where more alcohol is drunk per person than most places on this planet.

In time, the radical ideas held by Gary Meyerhoff will not be those of a “hippy activist”, but those of mainstream voters.

Lawrence Irlam
Darwin

This letter to the editor was written by Darwin resident Lawrence Irlam and published in the Northern Territory News on April 1, 2002.

Drug house protesters arrested in Darwin

2002-03-22T19:23:00.000+09:30

Six people protesting against the drug house legislation on the steps of the Darwin Justice Department have been arrested this afternoon.

Armed with posters, a loud hailer and foghorns, Darwin Network Against Prohibition members refused to budge until they met the Attorney-General Peter Toyne or the Justice Department's Richard Coates, neither of whom emerged from the building.

Five police officers asked the protesters to move and when they refused, arrested them for making undue noise.

Before he was heaved into a police van, the Network's Gary Meyerhoff said the protest was the first of many planned for Darwin.

He said money used to fund the Territory police drug squad would be better spent on health or education.

This article was published on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's News Online website on March 22, 2002.

Police out in force for drug house rally

2002-03-08T07:23:00.000+09:30

A strong police presence dampened support for a public rally held to protest against the Territory Government’s proposed drug house legislation yesterday.

Uniformed officers circled Bennett Park near Parliament House and undercover officers waited in nearby cars as 40 protesters joined the rally.

The rally was put on by the Top End Users’ Forum (TUF) to protest against proposed legislation aimed at increasing police powers to search and arrest people for drug offences.

The legislation will allow police to declare houses and nightclubs as “drug houses” and search the premises without a warrant. TUF member Gary Meyerhoff said the new law was modelled on New South Wales legislation which had allowed police to target certain communities.

“Police have been able to target the gay community in Oxford St by closing off nightclubs and strip-searching patrons,” he said. “We don’t want to see that (here).”

Mr Meyerhoff said declaring certain locations as drug houses would drive the drug trade further underground and discourage users to seek help or treatment.

He appealed to Attorney-General Peter Toyne to postpone the enactment of the legislation until the community was consulted.

This article was published in the Northern Territory News on March 8, 2002.

Socialist Alliance scores direct hit

2001-10-17T07:23:00.000+09:30

DARWIN — Socialist Alliance senate candidate Gary Meyerhoff dropped a bombshell on live television on October 4 when he suggested that Northern Territory's chief minister Clare Martin had “just lied to us on national TV” about her government's commitment to repeal mandatory sentencing.

The hot potato caused Martin to blush and show anchorperson George Negus to go into damage control came during a live telecast of the popular ABC TV series Australia Talks, which staged before a lively 200-strong studio audience in the entertainment centre's studio theatre.

From the outset, the audience was cynical because of composition of the panel. As well as Martin, there was assistant federal defence minister Brendan Nelson, federal Labor MP Duncan Kerr, the far-right Queensland federal independent MP Bob Katter and comedian Paul McDermott.

Martin was caught off-guard by Meyerhoff. Negus was forced to say, “Careful, careful. I am seriously warning you” and “They're serious ... harsh words” before Meyerhoff persisted, calmly repeating Martin's pledge to repeal NT's mandatory sentencing laws. Then came the sting in the tail of Meyerhoff's question: “When another person hangs themselves in Don Dale (detention Centre) will that be (former chief minister) Dennis Burke's fault or your fault?”.

While sections of the audience applauded, it was clear that the question had come as a shock. As Meyerhoff, seated in the front row, began to elaborate the cameras swung back to the panel and Negus was heard to say, “She's already answered that question”.

In fact, she had not. What Meyerhoff wanted to put on the record was that in August, she and her Labor party broke the Country Liberal Party's stranglehold of NT's government on a platform that included a promise to revoke mandatory sentencing — but with the operative words were “for property crime”.

Meyerhoff's question related to the deaths in custody that are indirectly caused by mandatory sentencing laws and which will remain in place for those convicted of drug offences and serious crimes such as murder.

Martin has not told the NT people this, and even though she did not lie in the strictest sense of the word, she has withheld information which is as good as lying.

The show was a triumph for the Socialist Alliance. The day after, this was reflected in an unsolicited remark to Meyerhoff by respected ABC radio host Julie Christiansen, who told him, `Your people did very well last night'.

Of the seven alliance members in the audience, four either asked questions or rebutted statements by the panellists.

Another first, although it was not broadcast, was the unfurling of a new flag by the First Nations of Australia political party. The flag consists of an all-black Australian continent beside three horizontal stripes coloured black, white and brown, “The colours of our population”, as the man, Maurie, who unravelled it explained. Maurie was one of only a few indigenous people in the audience.

This article was written by Rob Inder-Smith and was published in the Green Left Weekly on October 17, 2001.

Australians rally against war and racism

2001-10-10T07:23:00.000+09:30

Darwin: Rob Inder-Smith reports that sentiments of peace and anti-capitalism rang out above a cacophony of chattering birds in Raintree Park on October 3.

Speeches at the twilight rally left the 80-strong crowd in no doubt about the human costs of military action against Afghanistan. Organised by the Socialist Alliance and the fledgling Network Opposing War and Racism, the rally was addressed by outspoken Socialist Alliance Senate candidate Gary Meyerhoff, who argued that war will serve only to sustain the United States economy and rather than bring justice to bear, will create the injustice of displacing more hungry refugees.

Other speakers included Sybille Kaczorak, representing Action and Solidarity in Indonesia and East Timor, Sandra Thibodeaux, who recited a moving ``anti-war pro-humanity poem'', and Greens senate candidate Melanie Ross.

This article, written by Rob Inder-Smith, was published in the Green Left Weekly on October 10, 2001.

Socialist Alliance opposes CLP’s racism

2001-08-15T07:23:00.000+09:30

DARWIN — The Northern Territory Socialist Alliance branch has thrown itself into the August 18 NT elections, using the short election campaign to build opposition to the rampant racism of the Country Liberal Party government.

The Socialist Alliance is standing in three seats. Anti-racist activist and Democratic Socialist Party Darwin branch secretary Peter Johnson is running for Fannie Bay, youth-worker Meredith De Landelles is contesting Wanguri and drug-reform campaigner Gary Meyerhoff is running in Nightcliff.

Fannie Bay and Wanguri are contested by just three candidates — one each from the Socialist Alliance, the ALP and the CLP. In Nightcliff, four candidates have nominated — Meyerhoff, CLP member (and son of the incumbent) Jason Hatton, ALP member Jane Aagard and Peter Ivinson from the Territory Alliance, formed by disaffected CLP and ALP members.

The central plank of the Socialist Alliance platform has been opposition to zero-tolerance policing, mandatory sentencing, and the new anti-social conduct act.

According to Meyerhoff, these policies constitute “the entrenched harassment of indigenous people, exacerbating their disadvantage and marginalisation”.

“All these measures give more powers to the police”, Meyerhoff told Green Left Weekly. “Mandatory sentencing legislation means that once the police have decided to press charges, the court has no power to mitigate the sentence. The anti-social conduct act gives cops to power to deem any behaviour at all `anti-social', to confiscate any property associated with the behaviour and to punish the `offenders'. The cops here are notoriously racist — and the incarceration rate of young indigenous people is higher than it has been in years.”

Since the anti-social conduct bill was proposed in June, the Socialist Alliance has organised a systematic campaign against it. As the bill was passed, protesting alliance members were removed from the public gallery of Parliament House. On July 6, a Socialist Alliance-organised rally of more than 100 people condemned the racist approach of the NT government.

A follow-up rally on August 3 was attended by more than 200 people, including a sizeable contingent from the local homeless Aboriginal population, the “long-grassers”. The main speaker, long-time indigenous Larrakiah rights campaigner and Socialist Alliance member June Mills, was greeted with a highly enthusiastic response.

The Socialist Alliance campaign against the bill has received support from the Greens, the NT branch of the Australian Association of Social Workers, the Long-grass Association, the Northern Territory University Student Union women’s department, former Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union secretary Rob Hitchcock and indigenous activist Bill Day.

Policing has also been the main plank of the major parties’ election campaign. The ALP is promising to double the drug squad, impose a 10pm curfew on young people and increase police numbers. The CLP is promising to continue its current approach. Neither party has commented on the Socialist Alliance's proposals to reorient the justice system to rehabilitation, to legalise drug use and to pursue an non-custodial approach to petty crimes.

When questioned about “independent” (i.e., non-mainstream) candidates, CLP president Suzanne Cavenagh said, “unfortunately, we live in a democratic society”.

The Socialist Alliance has been refused access to all local shopping centres, being told that “the ALP has booked it out” or “the CLP has an office here”.

Although the alliance has received considerable coverage on Radio Larrakiah, the local ABC radio station will only let Socialist Alliance speakers on air once a week. The CLP, the ALP and ex-CLP independents are receiving daily coverage.

Socialist Alliance members are confident, however, that their electoral work has been effective in building the campaign against racist legislation. Nightcliff candidate Gary Meyerhoff told ABC Radio this week, “this is a three-year campaign at least, we are only just getting started”.

This article, written by Ruth Ratcliffe, was published in the Green Left Weekly on August 15, 2001.

Anti-social laws 'just gimmick'

2001-06-16T07:23:00.000+09:30

New anti-social legislation in the Territory was just a "pre-election gimmick", lawyers say.

Criminal Lawyers Association president John Lawrence said the NT Government had rushed through the introduction of itinerancy legislation to secure its passage through the Assembly before an election.

The Public Order and Anti-Social Conduct Bill was introduced last week by Police Minister Mike Reed.

It provides police with increased powers to move people on who are involved in anti-social activities and to enter properties where there has been a disturbance.

Mr Lawrence said his association had wanted to contribute to the debate, but Mr Reed had told him it could only see a copy of the Bill after it was put before Parliament.

Mr Lawrence said the legislation only marginally differed from existing laws, and was "just a pre-election gimmick".

He said: "Existing laws like the Liquor Act and the Summary Offences Act mean offences like public drinking or offensive conduct are already covered in the statutes.

"I don't see why, if there is such a problem, that it couldn't be overcome by sensible policing under the existing powers."

Drug users

The Top End Users' Forum, which represents intravenous drug users, has also attacked the new laws.

Convener Gary Meyerhoff said police had been given too much power.

He said: "Last year's juvenile and drug diversion initiatives are already fundamentally flawed, primarily due to the transfer of powers from magistrates to police officers."

This article was written by Camden Smith and published in the Northern Territory News on June 16, 2001.

Solidarity for those with HIV/AIDS

2001-05-30T07:23:00.000+09:30

DARWIN — The AIDS Council's annual candlelight vigil, held on May 20, provided solidarity for those living with HIV and encouraged people to join the fight against discrimination and oppression.

Gary Meyerhoff, former convenor of People Living with HIV/AIDS NT and member of the Democratic Socialist Party, gave a personal account of the emotional impact of being HIV positive, but focused on the need for AIDS activists to campaign against corporate control of HIV treatment, which denies treatment to the majority of HIV positive people in the world.

The federal government's welfare reform program also needs to be opposed, he added, because it denies HIV positive people the right to a government pension unless they are at “death's door”.

In the Northern Territory, the rally heard, the main issues of concern relate to the compulsory testing of people in detention centres, the criminalisation of cannabis use and growth for treatment purposes, and government opposition to the needle exchange program in Palmerston, 30 kilometres from Darwin.

Pat Anderson, the head of Aboriginal health organisation Danila Dilba, and Tony O'Callahan-Creed, convenor of People Living With HIV/AIDS Northern Territory also spoke.

This article, written by Sibylle Kaczorek & Jo Ellis, was published in the Green Left Weekly on May 30, 2001.