If you witness that a road accident was purely due to the negligence of one of the parties, you can save the innocent victim a lot of anguish by making a statement. But, speak to someone who did offer to be a witness – as I have. On several occasions over a period of two years he turned up for a court session which was postponed to another day.

The whole issue of dobbing, whistleblowing and volunteer witness is a dilemma. The question you have to ask yourself is - “How much of a coward am I willing to be?

It's not actually true that there's no obligation to report wrong doing.

In NSW, for example, where an offence is punishable by imprisonment for five years or more (or life) there is an obligation to report it, and a person who fails to report can themselves be imprisoned for up to two years.

As for water, I've come to the view that the sooner we get the reservoir levels down to 30%, the sooner the construction of the desalinator will start, which I regard as a good thing, so I'm happy for my neighbours to go for it on the water usage.

Sylvia.

Most of the time people who report their friends and neighbours to authority indicate that they have more faith in the judgement of the authorities than they do in their friends and neighbours. Dobbing is rarely about community concern and mostly about self interest and bias. There are many ways to address issues without having to single out individuals. Most dobbers are just resentful, spiteful and envious people who lack the integrity to confront the individuals with their concerns and lack the courage to identify and raising social issues within political rather than disciplinarian forums. This is offcourse as long as the matter does not involve serious crimes such as violent abuse of people who are unable to defend themselves and who require the heavy hand of the law in order to be rescued from vicious attackers. In which case this would not be called "dobbing" as attempts to save lives are in fact heroic.

Bravo Mirko. And this is a sincere compliment rather than a snide comment. The importance of community is worth a few petty infringements. The tolerance of a few minor transgressions is worth the destruction of community relationshships. But when is a sin so depraved that it cannot be tolerated? The problem for me is often the certainty of the facts. If I have an obligation to report an abuse, how absolutely sure am I that there was an abuse? Did I see it, was it my biassed propensity to attribute nastiness to someone who had offended me? I confess, with all my uncertainties, that I am not a confident (good) dobber. Maybe I need to improve my dobbing skills?

Fencepost,
I believe that the people who are today in postions of authority are so quick to prosecute without fair trial and investigation, that if you have doubt about dobbing, do not do it. You will invariably cause more harm than good. The act of investigation by some government departments and law enforcement officials, is enough to devastate an individual, wether or not they are guilty of any transgression.

The issue of self interest may be a factor, the risks associated with dobbing another but also our perceptions of the fairness of the law would come into it.

I'd struggle to be offended by the person who waters a much loved garden when others can keep to their long showers or whatever their pet indulgance is without fear of similar penalty.

Who am I to know what other cutbacks someone has made to conserve water or how indulgent they are when out of sight?

Rather than specific restrictions, allocate a usage based on the number of people normally resident at a home, present in a workplace etc and allow them to decide how it will be used. Charge like a wounded bull for usage beyond the allocated amount and discount for usage under the allocation.

R0bert