I am travelling down the east coast, indulging in my new profession of beachbummery. I stopped at Shelly Beach, Port Macquarie a few nights ago. Someone had told me that you can camp there overnight and that it is a traditional camp spot that has been like that for years, even though it is not mentioned in my free camps book.

Being a frugal beachbum, I want as many free-camps as I can get. So I stayed there.

I noted a number of campervans that were clearly staying put for the night. But I also noted three signs in the carpark with ‘No camping’ icons on them!

I was working on my laptop late at night in my car when the police rocked up. I immediately thought: oh here we go, they are going to fine me and/or make leave… and probably charge me with consuming alcohol in a public place! But there was no problem after I told them what I was up to and they quickly left.

But the signs say no camping. And another sign says no consumption of alcohol after 9pm. Why didn’t they police these bylaws? Why has the council put up no camping signs and then proceeded by all accounts to allow people to camp there all the time, year after year?

My concern is that there is all too often a big discrepancy between what the law is purported to be and what it is in practice. Too much of the time it is enormously sloppy….and the various authorities have no problem with it staying that way.

I just don’t get it. How on earth can law-makers and their various regulators not be striving for the best possible match between the law and the regulation thereof? And how can the top authority: the federal government, not make sure that this happens?

They will always tell us that the law is the law and that we should always respect the law. Scurrilous hypocrites.

Your thoughts….

Ludwig,
In very far NTH QLD we have a situation where juvenile gangs, known to Police frequently cause damage to property out of pure racist malice. The Law states that offenders are to be prosecuted. The Police at times do their job but from my perspective it's the Magistrates & taxpayer funded Legal Aid people who discriminate against the decent, innocent victim instead.
Either they're incredibly perverse or totally out of touch or just plain incompetent. I'd dearly love to know what the Law is regarding mentioning the names of these Magistrates ? I know the consequences would be tough but is it actually illegal ?

Ludwig,
I agre with what Indy said, the courts do not support the actions of the police.

However in your own example, it is the difference between a local government ordinance and a state law. If a LG ordinance is broken it is up to the LG to enforce that. LG rangers should be going around checking on campers. Similary, If I cut a tree down against an ordinance, it is a LG matter, it is not a police matter.

Maybe the police had encountered drunkeness or violence there in the past and were simply checking out who was there. Obviously they did not see you as a threat to the peace.

Absolutely, Ludwig. It is an utter disgrace.

On the one hand, you could argue that the police in your case were taking a sanguine, practical and thoughtful approach to law enforcement The one that says "this is a dumb restriction - these people are causing no offence to others, let's leave them be."

But you and I both know that - probably just down the road in another jurisdiction - you would have been arrested, thrown into jail overnight, fined the next day for trespass or whatever, and had your camping gear confiscated.

Law-enforcement-as-lottery might add a frisson of excitement to one's life, but it is something we could well do without.

Problem is, how do you go about fixing it? Local Councils are themselves part of the problem, with Councillors able to exercise their own petty prejudices, thanks to being voted in by a few hundred souls - who anyway, only voted because they had to.

Sadly, it comes back to the same old problem, which is the total lack of interest the general public has in who gets elected, an attitude that is fed and watered by the unwillingness of those elected officials to do anything more than cement their position on the gravy train.

"Why didn’t they police these bylaws?"

Well, one guess might be that they were police and not council bylaws officers…

But surely the bigger issue is, "They will always tell us that the law is the law and that we should always respect the law. Scurrilous hypocrites."

Hypocrites? You mean like laptop-enabled frugal beachbums who consciously make a decision to break the law?

My thoughts… Don't live with the guilt of your admitted hypocrisy and legal offence – report to the relevant council offices and lodge a complaint against yourself.

Ludwig three weeks ago my social club,a ham radio one, held its monthly meeting in a beaut park, a war memorial river side park.
Gates locked 24/7 but tables chairs provided.
WHY? well vandals, to let us drive to the table would say they too can, and smash the lot.
Wish I had the courage to do what you are doing.
But if I did? would ignore such signs and pay no fines.
My way of reminding the community should not suffer because we lack the will to put a few drop kicks behind bars.