Drawing the line on graffiti artists

Peter Fargo
PROPOSED State Government anti-graffiti laws rightfully target the offenders without taking property owners as collateral damage.
Police Minister Bob Cameron last week extended the period for public comment on a Graffiti Prevention Exposure Draft Bill, which will increase penalties and create new, stand-alone graffiti offences.
The laws stand to aid local efforts to clamp down of graffiti which, in City of Greater Geelong, includes an unfortunate side-effect of making it an offence to allow graffiti to remain on your property.
The intent of the local law is right – to facilitate fast removal of offending graffiti – but it effectively makes everyone a part of the problem.
Mr Cameron said the proposed laws are about holding offenders accountable for their actions.
He said under the new law, police would be able to charge vandals with the specific offence of “marking graffiti” which would mean that if a person is caught marking graffiti, they would need to show they have the consent of the property owner in order to escape prosecution.
A discussion paper on the new laws cites a recent Geelong study of graffiti offenders that found young people apply graffiti for a variety of reasons, including as a means of expression, an art form, to alleviate boredom or for an adrenalin rush. Rebellion and mischief were other reasons.
Participants in the study who no longer did graffiti, mentioned formal detection and prosecution, peer and family condemnation and council graffiti removal policies as reasons for stopping their activities.
While council local laws are obviously targeted at preventing graffiti, an unfortunate side-effect of its laws is the offence to allow graffiti to remain on their property.
Quick removal is widely renowned as a strong method in deterring graffiti and one that City of Greater Geelong has championed – especially on its green bus stops.
Despite these removal policies, graffiti remains a problem in many areas.
But without strong penalties, including up to two years imprisonment for repeat offenders, they are always going to be severely weakened by the fact the law-abiding community has to bear the burden of policing the activity.