Nanny State Keeps Kids and Parents Guessing

You never know with the Nanny State. Junior might be forcibly taken to a mental institution for eating too much and not exercising enough; or those in power might instead threaten to fine him for running and playing in the local park, just like these kids were:

In recent weeks, the kids and parents have been meeting at the park after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The energetic youngsters have been running a lap of the three-oval park and play games after school twice a week. Dad Grant Cohen said they were approached last week by a Glen Eira local laws officer who told them organised groups weren't allowed on the grounds.

"It's ridiculous — we're just three families who all live five minutes away," Mr Cohen said. "We started coming down here because the kids would be getting home after school and playing computer games... We wanted to give them a chance to run around. This park should be full of kids doing exactly that."

Now the kids have gone from running around to being on the run — forced to be fitness fugitives.

"We rang the council and they said that ... as long as we were in a group we'd still be fined," Mr Cohen said.

Comments

[dead0man]

I wish "common sense" would beat the shit out of "zero tollerence" once and for all.

[Dave]

Common Sense? Seems like I read his obituary the other day. I think he was finally done in by his old enemies Greed ans Apathy.

[benpal]

Who are these officers? Are they humans with brains? Are children organised groups? Why would there be a law to disallow people to gather peacefully?

[David]

This seems like your standard "unintended consequences"-type case. The statute was probably drafted to prevent organized sports leagues from "taking over" the park, and preventing use by anyone else. Since they didn't tightly define "organized", this comes to mean that no one may use the park in a group.