Bullshit graffiti laws

Good news! All the murderers, rapists, drug dealers, bank robbers and terrorist in Australia have been caught. Bad news! Now the cops have to go after someone else to justify their existence.

Or at least that where I think the insane new anti-graffiti laws in Melbourne came from. Follow this link for the horrifying details but here's the summary:

• $550 fine just for carrying a spray can
• $26,000 fine if convicted of graffiti vandalism
• 2 year jail term if convicted of graffiti vandalism

This is plain fucking stupid. The idea of criminalising non-violent offenders for the sake of appealing to conservative voters by appearing "tough on crime" is absolutely cretinous. Even if you think graffiti is vandalism and a crime rather than art, the severity of these penalties is way out of scale with the offence.

Last weekend we had a bit of a mini-gathering of YouTube users in Melbourne's Federation Square. While hanging out we shot a few round table vox pops on a range of topics, including these new graffiti laws. Some young lads who have a YouTube channel call TwoGuysOneChannel had a particularly good rant on the topic.

Coincidentally we were just across the road from one of Melbourne's best graffiti lanes so I thought I'd show off just how heinous these crimes are.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=SZb6IB1bq1g