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Absurd Aussie laws - From Potato Smuggling to Canberra’s Prohibition

Updated: Oct 7, 2024

By Anonymous


Every now and then, you’ll come across a law that seems truly bizarre, so incredibly specific that it seems ridiculous that a legislature would have wasted the time and breath required to craft it. While your first impulse may be to mock these monuments to law’s obsession with technicalities, I’ve found that digging deeper can reveal a different story. Every law is created to close a loophole, and following a strange law down the rabbit-hole of history often reveals a tale of legal manoeuvring, as governments do their best to legislate the values they wish to enforce, while corporations and the general public attempt to evade these expectations without ever once betraying the letter of the law.


1) Potato boards and spud kings, Western Australia’s battle against potato smuggling [1].


Until 2016, Western Australian potato growers were crushed under the heel of the so-called “Potato Board”, a tyrannical agency known officially as the Potato Marketing Corporation. 


Potatoes were once the most regulated vegetable in the country, vigilantly overseen by the Federal and State governments as a product essential to national survival during the second world war. Most states dissolved their potato boards in the 1950’s-1970’s, with the ACT potato board dissolving in 1951 after the NSW potato board committed some starchy cloak and dagger string-pulling in order to dominate the Canberran potato market [2]. However, the Western Australian PMC endured, retaining the power to authorise “special potato inspectors” to stop and search vehicles believed to be smuggling unlicensed potatoes, with guilty “potato pirates” being dragged in front of a judge for their starchy crimes. 


The PMC’s reign of terror only ended thanks to the brave actions of so-called “spud king” Tony Galati, who was relentlessly oppressed by the PMC for selling potatoes below their permitted price, with Tony stating that “he was prepared to go to jail rather than stop selling cheap potatoes”. Ultimately Tony won his noble fight, with the Western Australian potato industry finally deregulating on the 1st of July, 2016 [3].


2) ‘Stagger juice’ in the nation’s capital: prohibition in Canberra


[4] Image credit: National Archives of Australia


While the American prohibition is famous worldwide, it is less well-known that Canberra had its own miniature version. Alcohol was effectively banned in the nation’s capital from 1911 onwards following concerns that so-called ‘stagger juice’ would distract the workers dedicated to constructing the city. 


Prohibition was championed by King O’Malley, a controversial politician now ironically best-known as the namesake of the titular Civic pub. The ban was largely futile, only serving to fuel the burgeoning Queanbeyan nightlife, however it ultimately lasted another 17 years. The ban was only repealed after the public learned that a bar was being built in the new Parliament House, which led to uproar from a population tired of having no choice but to visit Queanbeyan to purchase booze [5]. 


Alcohol laws across Australia remain somewhat inconsistent, with Western Australia legally defining some forms of low-alcohol beer as soft drink, with others like Victoria consider kombucha to be an alcoholic beverage [6].


3) Defining “vehicle” – an ongoing challenge



[7]


While most Australians know that drink driving is a crime, fewer may be aware that having a few too many before getting on your trusty steed is also illegal. Under NSW law, horses are considered a ‘vehicle’, meaning that horse riders can get docked for drinking, texting or speeding while on man’s second best friend [8]. 


This is in contrast to the US, where many states don’t consider a horse to be a ‘vehicle’, thus making drunk riding legal, partly because it is argued horses are capable of their own navigation. In essence the intoxicated individual is not fully responsible for the vehicle [9]. 


Defining vehicle for the purposes of a DUI remains a legally complex issue in Australia, with drink driving charges extending to include ships, trains, bicycles and skateboards [10]. Under ACT law, even riding an e-scooter under the influence of alcohol is illegal, making the classic lime scooter from Moosies a criminal offence punishable with a $3200 fine [11].


4) Fridge death and carboot crises - how corporate inaction drives legislative inaction


In South Australia, it is illegal to sell a fridge that cannot be opened from the inside [12]. While this law may seem silly, it actually originates from a very valid, and morbid fear. Early refrigerators were sealed via mechanical latches, making them impossible to open from the inside. Children exploring hide-and-seek would venture inside and find themselves trapped, unable to open the door and escape. Once inside, the air-tight seal of the fridge would make any screams for help inaudible, until the children ultimately suffocated. 


According to The New York Times, more than 115 children died this way in the US in 1956 alone. Indeed, law’s like this one were actually pivotal in ending this grim fate, with the magnetic fridge seal only becoming widespread in 1956, after the US congress passed the Refrigerator Safety Act, which required that all fridges be capable of being opened from the inside. 


Even after this act was passed, so-called “fridge death” remained a problem, as old, discarded fridges left outside continued to trap children inside, forcing New York health inspectors to patrol the city in 1961 for abandoned fridges, smashing the locks on any that they could find. In countries with less stringent legal systems, fridge death remains a tragic threat, with 2 children in Guyana falling victim in 2003 [13].

 

While laws like this may seem silly, it is worth remembering that behind every strangely specific rule is a former loophole that once had tragic consequences. While it may seem ridiculous that legal intervention was necessary to facilitate the comparatively cheap switch-over from latched fridges to magnetic seals, corporate willingness to sacrifice safety in the name of cost remains a threat. Indeed, it took until 2002 for American legislators to require car trunks have an interior release handle, after 11 children died in less than a month from suffocation in these sealed, airtight areas, while Australia has no comparable legislation whatsoever [14].


 

Endnotes

  1. Orchard Tech, ‘Absurd Road Law Leads to Deregulation of Potato Industry’, Orchard Tech (Web Page, 14 March 2022) <https://www.orchardtech.com.au/absurd-road-law-leads-to-deregulation-of-potato-industry/>.

  2. Max Hill, ACT Potato Marketing Board Records (ACT Heritage Library Manuscript No 0364, 1949-1951) <https://www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/search/Manuscript_Collections/hmss-0364-act-potato-marketing-board-records>.

  3. Calla Wahlquist, ‘Western Australia's potato war ends with spud king Tony Galati the victor’, The Guardian (online, 15 April 2016) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/apr/15/western-australias-potato-war-ends-as-regulatory-body-is-wound-up>.

  4. James Cameron, ‘On this day: Canberra’s prohibition begins’, Australian Geographic (Blog, 19 December 2016) <https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/on-this-day/2016/12/canberras-prohibition-begins/>.

  5. ‘Prohibition in Canberra: King O’Malley and the ‘dry’ capital’ Your Momento (Web Page, 10 April 2013) <https://web.archive.org/web/20170330172622/http://yourmemento.naa.gov.au/2013/04/prohibition-in-canberra-king-omalley-and-the-dry-capital/>.

  6. ‘Alcohol laws of Australia’, Wikipedia, (Wiki, 3 August 2024) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Australia>.

  7. Ainsley Law, ‘Road Rules on Horseback’, Ainsley Law (Blog Page, 4 November 2019) <https://ainsleylaw.com.au/road-rules-on-horseback/>.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Leverson Budke, ‘Can You Get A DUI On A Horse?’, Leverson Budke Criminal Defense (Blog, March 26 2024) <https://www.leversonbudke.com/can-you-get-a-dui-on-a-horse>.

  10. David Abrey, ‘Drink driving a horse? You bet!’, Harper Finch (Blog, 22 November 2016) <https://www.harperfinch.com.au/drink-driving-a-horse-you-bet/>.

  11. Zane Dobie, ‘Can you get charged with drink driving on a bicycle or e-scooter?’, Drive (Web page, 21 March 2024) <https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/is-it-illegal-to-ride-an-e-scooter-drunk/>.

  12. '14 of the most obscure Australian laws you’ve never heard of’, Slater and Gordon (Web Page, 14 July 2017) <https://www.slatergordon.com.au/media/14-of-the-most-obscure-australian-laws-youve-never-heard-of>.

  13. Cecil Adams, ‘Is it impossible to open a refrigerator door from the inside?’, The Straight Dope (Q+A, 4 March 2005) <https://www.straightdope.com/21343710/is-it-impossible-to-open-a-refrigerator-door-from-the-inside>.

  14. Lorraine Somerfeld, ‘Your car has a release handle in its trunk — here's why’, Kids and Car Safety (Web Page, 1 February 2021) <https://www.kidsandcars.org/news/post/your-car-has-a-release-handle-in-its-trunk-heres-why>.

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