By Dave Riley
BRISBANE — Crime waves make good copy. Journalists can spice up a story with charges of gangsterism and thuggery after stopping off at the media liaison section of the Queensland Police Force.
Regardless of the recent headings in the local Courier-Mail, crime in Queensland has not increased alarmingly over the last few years. While the number of violent offences has risen slightly — armed robbery, for instance, rose by 5% during 1991-92 — crime levels generally have remained stable, as Professor Ross Homel, of the Justice Administration Department at Griffith University, told the Sunday Sun-Herald.
Even the recent "weekend of violence" blitzed by the television media was "nothing out of the ordinary", according to a police inspector working the city centre.
It is interesting to compare the current beat-up with a similar media splurge last July. Instead of being focused on the city and Fortitude Valley malls, attention then was turned to "feral" gangs of truant and unemployed youth "terrorising" the Inala shopping centre in the suburban west. At issue was the alleged assault by Constable Paul Hauff of a 12-year-old boy. Hauff's media angle was that he was a player for the Broncos rugby league club — heart and soul of Brisbane's attempt on the Winfield Cup.
During coverage then, something of the real world was reflected in the pages of the local press. Inala at the time had the highest unemployment in the country — 28.7%, which was 17.6% above the Queensland average. Its youth unemployment settled somewhere between 35% and 45%, and 37% of registered job seekers were under 25 years of age.
In contrast, the present hype shares no such social awareness. The blame is now squarely placed on the shoulders of Brisbane's Murri community. "A spreading reign of terror carried out by rampaging gangs of mainly Aboriginal youths", was the outlook of the state opposition.
"What is needed is patently clear", wrote Tony Koch in the Courier-Mail. "The Aboriginal community needs to stand up and accept some responsibility for their people — their children in particular."
Unfortunately, all this phrasemongery ignored the fact that relations between the Murri community and the Queensland police force are bad. Daniel Yock's death in custody and the subsequent melee between police and Murri protesters have worsened an already festering relationship. Police patrols in the city and Valley malls have been harassing Aborigines, trying to turn the malls into what Sam Watson, of the Aboriginal Legal Service, called "no-go areas for Murris".
Overlaying this renewed police interest — some have called it revenge — is the continuing debate around the Mabo issue. A public campaign of vilification is being generated, says Watson, as a racist attack on the whole Aboriginal community.
"There may be people in the mall causing problems but they are being a problem because of other reasons, not because they are Aboriginals. The problem is chronic unemployment", he told the Courier-Mail.
In the run-up to next month's Brisbane City Council election, Lord Mayor Jim Soorley was quick to identify his administration with a blitz on crime. Council officers will now take on a policing role as an adjunct to new measures such as the establishment of a permanent police riot squad.
Already, the recent installation of video surveillance cameras and the completion of a police sub-station, staffed 24 hours per day, in the heart of the city mall have turned the area into the most militarised public space in Queensland. This push to "clean up the streets" matches poorly with the council's support for public access to these areas. What is at issue is on whose terms these areas are to be used.
A case in point is the long campaign supporters of Green Left Weekly had to wage with other forces for the right to sell the paper in the Brisbane mall. After four months of weekly mobilisations, the collection of thousands of signatures and some 50 arrests, limited public speaking and distribution of literature were allowed. The campaign was the last act in a struggle that goes back over eight years, when all political activity was banned from the mall.
When it drafted new ordinances in late 1992, the Soorley administration was adamant on its commitment to the Mall Traders' Association, which wanted the ban upheld. Initially the council tried to placate the opposition by creating a "speakers corner" on one edge of King George Square in front of the Town Hall. A few posturing statues in quaint 19th century garb were moved in to add ambience. Supporters of democratic rights, however, failed to see their activities as just another tourist attraction, so the campaign continued.
In the Valley mall the recent conflict cannot be separated from the council's commitment to urban renewal in the area. Over the last decade Fortitude Valley, once the busiest retail centre outside the central business district, has died. In succession all the major retailers — Myers, Coles, Target, Waltons — have moved out, leaving empty premises behind. Perhaps 75% of what once was the Valley shopping centre is now closed. Trade and patronage are at their lowest since the second world war.
Three years ago and coinciding with the creation of the mall, trendy, up-market coffee shops and restaurants began to move into the area. The premises they used were small and pokey, so they moved their custom outside; now footpath eating and drinking obstruct the foot traffic along Brunswick Street, the main thoroughfare. Since the enterprises are conducting their business in public space, what goes on there can influence patronage at the tables that now extend for 150 metres along the street.
Like the city, the Valley mall is to have video cameras installed, in line with requests from local business. Indeed, the heavy investment in creating space in a business corridor such as the Valley seems less oriented to the needs of local residents than it is to servicing commercial enterprises. [This is the second in a series of articles on issues in the Brisbane City Council elections.]