BY CHRIS ATKINSON
DARWIN — Responding to widespread opposition, the Mindil Beach Sunset Market Association (MBSMA) on June 19 dropped its attempt to make Green Left Weekly campaigners pay for a "busking licence" in order to distribute the paper.
The MBSMA reduced the total "fee" for GLW distributors to $3, which can be paid in the form of a copy of the newspaper every week. GLW distributors agreed to the compromise.
"It's a victory for every supporter of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It shows how widely GLW is recognised as an essential source of alternative news. We certainly couldn't have won without our supporters help", Kate Stockdale, a GLW distributor said.
More than 300 people, including many stall holders, signed a petition calling on the MBSMA to allow GLW to be distributed without a fee. GLW has been distributed at the markets since 1994.
On June 6, former MBSMA manager Caroline Tapp threatened GLW with legal action on the grounds that a sentence in the petition — describing the MBSMA's actions as an attack on freedom of speech — was defamatory.
When GLW distributors defied the ban and continued to campaign within the market area on June 13, MBSMA threatened to call the police to have them removed. However, the police never arrived. The MBSMA claims that, because it is leased from the Darwin City Council (DCC) the land is no longer public space, it has the right to remove GLW distributors.
However, the MBSMA does not lease the area. It has a "permit to operate markets" and therefore the market area remains DCC land. The MBSMA only has jurisdiction over market traders.
The MBSMA said the fee it has demanded was to cover the cost of public liability insurance premiums.
"Stall holders are at the markets with the primary aim of making a living", explained Stockdale. "GLW campaigners, however, provide people with an important alternative to the corporate media. GLW is Darwin's only independent newspaper and has been a central builder of a range of social justice and environmental campaigns. GLW campaigners volunteer their time and 100% of the donations they receive go back into the paper's weekly production."
From Green Left Weekly, June 26, 2002.
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