It’s Law Week, so let’s cross-examine a few of the more obscure and little-known laws in existence in Victoria.
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While it’s become somewhat common at celebrations to release balloons into the sky, we’re about to burst revellers’ helium-filled bubbles.
According to the Environment Protection Act 2017, the act is considered littering.
The practice was banned in 2021 and breaches of the law attract fines for individuals up to $4070, or fines for corporations up to $20,351, if it’s intentional, says Dawes and Vary Riordan Lawyers senior associate Simon Pogue.
Balloons and their attachments pose a serious threat to birds and marine animals, who mistake them for food and can become entangled in their strings.
“An accidental escape from a birthday in the park is unlikely to attract the full force of the law,” Mr Pogue said.
“It might seem unusual, but what goes up, must come down, so it’s ultimately litter.”
The Penguin Foundation suggests eco-friendly alternatives, such as blowing bubbles, planting trees or flying kites.
However, the latter might be fraught with legalities too, depending on who you fly your kite around.
If one deems it ‘annoying kite flying’ in a public space, it’s technically illegal to do so, according to the Summary Offences Act 1966 and can attract a fine of up to $1017.
“The law’s generally only interested in the objective, so I imagine the ‘annoyed person’ would be having a pretty bad day if they decided to make a 000 call for that,” Mr Pogue said.
If you want to make sure your squeaky clean record keeps flying high, however, you might want to turn your back on that practice.
But while you’re rotating — specifically performing a U-turn — you had better give way to everyone around you, vehicles and pedestrians, regardless of whether other road users are waving at you to go first.
This is one News employees find a cause of confusion locally on the daily as many motorists coming out of Balmoral St in Kialla wave people U-turning from the centre of the GV Hwy around, when, in fact, they are the ones who have right of way.
The case of “you go first”-“no, you go first” — while often more urgent and less loving than a new couple who with playful affection try to end a phone call (“you hang up first”-“no, you hang up first”) — has been the cause of many near misses as it becomes an accidental game of chicken.
Speaking of poultry, you can keep chickens on residential land within Shepparton’s city limits, but only in the yards of houses and commercial properties, not flats, units or town houses, and only up to 10, with no roosters ruling any coops.
“In addition you can also have two dogs, two cats, five pigeons, 20 caged domestic birds, four guinea pigs and/or rabbits without a permit,” Mr Pogue said.
“The local laws are made by council. They include rules in relation to the keeping of bees, picking up your dog’s faeces, droving livestock, not leaving your bin out after 12 noon the following day, drinking alcohol in a public place, camping, trading on council land, and, my personal favourite, not returning your shopping trolley.
“I take great umbrage with the latter — it's not only illegal, but a test of morality about whether you return or don’t return it.”
If you did max out your menagerie to council’s animal-keeping limits, it might get a little noisy at your place, and that’s okay.
But not if that noise is caused by your vacuum cleaner.
Pay attention to the clock — and Victorian noise laws — before you go lifting any lint.
While many people know laws exist surrounding revving engines and firing up lawn mowers at unreasonable times, it is illegal in Victoria to create “unreasonable noise” with a vacuum cleaner between 10pm and 7am on weekdays, and 10pm to 9am on weekends and public holidays.
If you don’t want a knock on the door by police or council serving a 72-hour prohibition order or fines of up to $24,421 for individuals and $122,106 for corporations for continued breaches, you’ve also got an excuse to leave the housework for another day.
“They do seem extreme; however, ‘unreasonable noise’ is broad, and includes prescribed noise, like vacuuming,” Mr Pogue said.
“(The regulation) includes a large array of other prescribed noise — lawn mowers, power tools, cars, pumps, musical instruments, etcetera; vacuuming's just a convenient scapegoat to the principle that everyone’s entitled to the quiet enjoyment of their home.”
Mr Pogue said the general public might also be surprised by just how many disputes between neighbours wound up in court.
“I'’ve been involved in cases about leaves falling from a tree, barking dogs, fences, bins, staring, cats, and much in-between,” he said.
“People have a great capacity to find a grievance.”
As preposterous as they may sound to some, they are still laws, which begs some questions about enforcement.
Are police in Shepparton concerning themselves with such matters?
Are council officers working after hours to make sure the coat of cat hair covers your carpet a little longer?
Are neighbours actually dobbing you in for your darkest Dyson tendencies?
Mr Pogue said crimes were never ignored or not enforced, but that it was a matter of complaint to the police or council and that prosecutorial discretion also dictated if it was in public interest to proceed with charging someone with a crime.
“Is it in the public interest to charge a person with flying a kite? That’s the better question” he said.
“I can't see the police getting out of bed for a kite-flying offence, or the domestic cleaning proclivities of the masses. Maybe if you’re keeping a rooster in your house.”
The criminal lawyer says the most peculiar case he recalls locally is possibly “being drunk in charge of a horse”.
And the strangest ‘old’ law that exists in Victoria?
“It's got to be piracy,” Mr Pogue said.
“I'd love to defend that in court, although there's probably not much call for it on the Goulburn River. An estuary, maybe, but I can't see a dispute over who caught a big Murray cod reaching court.”
Humour aside, Mr Pogue reflected on the importance of his industry during this week’s Law Week.
“The law’s so important. It regulates everything we do from the moment we wake up, to the moment we go to sleep,” he said.
“From the safety standards of your PJs, the amount of sugar in your breakfast cereal, driving to work, your rights at work, the alcohol content of your beer at the pub, the safety of your AC unit, to the warranty on your mattress — it's all the law.
“We're pretty lucky in Victoria and Australia, our institutions have stood the test of time. It's the ultimate test of a civilised society.”