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THE DENIAL of RESPONSIBILITY One of the most insidious diseases increasingly afflicting Tasmanian citizens is the refusal of the so-called enforcement authorities to apply legislation specifically designed to effect relief for the aggrieved. This is evident in citizens' complaint to the police about Noise. The police just don't want to get involved despite the powers they have to implement control promptly. Is this because the police are understaffed for the job, or because they don't see Noise offences as crime, or simply because they are cowards who don't want to confront risky situations? Refusing to control a bad situation leaves its victims unprotected and diminishes an offender's incentive to behave. When he finds he can "get away with it" then he keeps on with his offensive behaviour, there being nothing effective to stop him. This dereliction of duty is particularly evident in the behaviour of Tasmania's councils when a barking complaint is lodged with them. If a council does not want to involve itself in effecting a prompt solution then it won't. There is no compulsion on any council to comply with the Dog Control Act. Councils are a law unto themselves and no amount of complaining to the higher authorities changes anything. Why is this so? It is because nobody want to take responsibility. It is because employees want a secure income - without earning it. It's "Me first - you last!" There is the appalling attitude that it's the complainant who is the Nuisance! The legal system has in recent years become so crazed that it does not see anything wrong about threatening a complainant with legal action for stalking simply because he is taking reasonable steps to notify the offender of his offence. Worse, it is now issuing restraint orders to prohibit the aggrieved person from complaining directly to the offender - as councils themselves recommend! Even worse, it then fines and penalises the victim for doing so! CONCLUSION: Avoid the legal system entirely |