No, You Can’t Associate with BaahArnie and the Other Spanish Sheep! By James Reed

     Civil liberty folk are rightly concerned that the Andrew government anti-association laws have passed the Lower House, and are unfortunately not heading to the outhouse, where they belong, but directly into law:
  https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2018/9/6/dangerous-anti-association-laws-pass-lower-house?fbclid=IwAR1qHhchHYPxAMEq3a635FTOzKKAHz91hshwKG7wMTQ379icKzfTvg1b0I8

“The laws will give police excessive powers to issue ‘anti-association notices’, telling people – including children as young as 14 – who they can and can’t be friends with or spend time with. Human rights advocates, lawyers and community workers all say that these laws are an attack on our democratic rights and neither politicians nor police officers should have a role in deciding who people can and can’t be friends with. Ruth Barson, a director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said that the laws are senseless, dangerous and a sign that Premier Andrews is pandering to Matthew Guy’s toxic law and order agenda. "We should all be free to decide who we spend our time with and who we want to be friends with. Every single Victorian should be worried about these laws because they're excessive and ripe for abuse. Such laws belong in a police state – not the connected, harmonious community that we all want Victoria to be," said Ms Barson. The new anti-association laws are fundamentally different to existing laws in the following key ways: 

•    Children are now caught up in the scheme: Anti-association notices can now be given to children as young as 14 years. The notices can prevent children going to the movies, playing sport, talking online or spending time with extended family members.
•    It is far easier for police to issue a notice: Police are no longer required to consider whether the issuing of a notice will actually prevent serious crime. Police will only have to show that the person receiving the notice has spent time with someone who has been convicted of a particular offence.
•    There are far less safeguards: There is no requirement for police to consider whether the association is for non-criminal purposes such as rehabilitation, friendship, support, education, sport any other legitimate activity; and
•    The laws operate retrospectively.”

     Will this mean, if the system wants it, that say the editor of this noble site, would not associate with the journalists? Could it be decided that family members not associate with each other? Wow, how about having the entire state of Victoria not associate with anyone at all? That would be interesting. I guess we will have to see what happens when a certain thing takes place on November 24, 2018.