The decision last week of the ACT Legislative Assembly to make it a criminal offence to put flyers under car windscreens on pain of a $1000 fine was an excessive one. It struck the wrong balance between freedom of speech and advertising and the minor inconvenience of some motorists who object to this sort of material.
Of course, from a commercial point of view, this newspaper should welcome the ban. It knocks out an avenue of competition, making advertising in this newspaper, or in the suburban newspaper in its stable, more attractive, or even necessary for some businesses. But that is not the point. The point of principle is more important. Legislatures should we wary about infringing the rights of people to disseminate information. Car flyers are not only used by small businesses. They are also used by people advertising community events and services. They are also used by people spreading political messages. Democracy depends on the free flow of information and ideas. Moreover, a healthy, competitive economy depends on the ability of businesses to advertise their wares.
In the United States, this law would be struck down as unconstitutional. Indeed, the who exercise by the Assembly, coupled with its dabbling in the idea of extending its own terms and seeking to increase the number of its members, gives further ammunition to the argument that the ACT should have a Bill of Rights that enshrines the basic constitutional structure that cannot be altered without a referendum and enshrines basic rights, including freedom of speech.
Aside from these arguments of lofty principle, there is another reason to object to this new law. It reveals the ACT as being petty-minded, over-regulated and outright silly. Here is a polity arguing for greater individual freedom with respect to euthanasia and less emphasis on the criminal law to deal with the scourge of drugs and at the same time it makes it a criminal offence to put a flyer under a windscreen — a true example of the cliche “from the sublime to the ridiculous”.