While far northern motorists have been discussing and complaining about a greatly increased traffic police presence on highways, the former Queensland LNP Government ensured the game was sewn up, with no escape.
Contractors with roadside cameras and cameras fitted to all highway patrol cars are busily recording your every move sending images of your vehicle and in some cases its occupants to a massive data bank held by the Main Roads Department and police.
The cameras record the registration number, speed, time, date and direction of a vehicle whenever it passes a camera.
Well that’s probably not such a bad thing, some motorists reckon, “why I don’t have anything to hide”, said a Cairns truck driver.
It does seem rather innocuous, and after all motorists have been exposed to mobile radar speed devices for many years.
The new age of surveillance by Big Brother has been in full swing since the former state government abolished car registration stickers, to save a measly few million dollars when the Treasury is raking in more than six million dollars a week in traffic fines.
Cairns News recently interviewed a Townsville builder who had a very disturbing story to tell about state government surveillance that he got caught up in October last year.
He was completely unaware that he had been on “police radar” for some weeks.
The consequences of this roadside spying could have cost him his livelihood, yet he broke no laws in pursuit of his occupation.
We will call the builder Mike.
His story:
Mike,42, is a normal hard-working ‘chippie’ who owns a four wheel drive utility and a work trailer in which he carries his tools of trade and a few personal belongings.
He lives close to Townsville with his family and often works in remote parts of western Queensland.
His work requires him to do a lot of driving, returning home after working at townships like Hughenden, Julia Creek or Pentland, a comfortable distance from his base.
Sometimes he has to drive to Townsville during the week to buy building materials, normally unavailable in smaller towns.
He was returning from Townsville with a load of materials for a job when he was intercepted by police at a roadblock west of Charters Towers.
Present at the parking bay were several Main Roads Department inspectors and traffic police checking truckies’ work diaries, licences, vehicle roadworthiness and conducting drug and alcohol tests.
Well, again such an offensive is probably in the interests of road safety, motorists would claim.
Mike’s vehicle was searched by over-zealous constables, starting with his trailer.
“The young coppers pulled everything out of the trailer and tossed my valuable electric tools into the very dusty ground,” Mike said.
“I was a little upset because there were thousands of dollars of equipment that I depend on for my job.
“I asked the cop to be careful and he looked like he was about to bash me.
“The situation got worse when they started on my car and then they were about to pull all the frozen stuff out of my car fridge.
“I got really angry because before they started I told them I had nothing illegal in my car.
“Fortunately a senior officer appeared and told the young cops to stop and leave me alone.”
The conversation Mike then had with this officer shocked the easy going tradie father of three.
Mike asked the officer why his car was being searched and why he had been picked out of a large number of vehicles stopped on the roadside.
“The copper said I had been on their radar for a while because I often travel between Townsville and the west and they wanted to check me out,” Mike said.
“He told me they had lots of photos of my car passing the fixed camera at Woodstock and from other cameras in Townsville and they thought I was selling drugs.
“I told him I was a tradie and often had to go to Townsville for materials and they knew my movements because he said I was spending too much time on the road and would have been tired.
“He said if I had an accident because I was tired the insurance company could get the camera information and possibly not pay out any damages.
“I said I drove no more than five hours at a time and do not drive when I am tired.”
The Main Roads Department has advised Cairns News:
“The fixed roadside cameras on Flinders Highway, near Woodstock, are Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.
We use this state-of-the-art technology to collect information about travel patterns of vehicles using the road.
The cameras take an image of all passing vehicles.
Infra-red cameras and illuminators are used to automatically capture the registration number, date and time of passing vehicles, providing statistical data on travel times, volumes and vehicle types.
ANPR cameras are strategically placed at key locations to provide:
- Journey time,
- Congestion information,
- Origin and destination information, and
- To monitor the use of the network by heavy vehicles.
Collected data helps us understand vehicle movements, plan for future improvements and achieve efficient control and management of the road network.
The cameras are also used to detect unregistered and uninsured vehicles.
Only authorised officers, including Queensland Police and TMR Transport Inspectors are able to access information from the ANPR cameras where an offence is suspected.”
This covert surveillance of law-abiding drivers heralds a new age of motoring in Queensland.
Russell is correct, however, so is Cairnsnews in saying “Magistrates usually will not allow such arguments”.
The reason for this is the courts (especially the lower courts) are NOT operating under Law. They operate under ‘colour of law’ and are administrative courts that are only answerable to the administrative corporation (set up to administer the bankruptcy of the commonwealth) that wears the face of our legitimate govt but is NOT the legitimate govt. I recently discovered in court that they have removed section 2 of the TORUM act requiring proclamation for the act. Under the Acts Interpretations Act, ALL statutes passed by parliament MUST have proclamation to be in effect.
You ‘consent’ by signing the contract called the ‘drivers license’. By signing this document you agree to obey all the rules the corporation that owns the license imposes, unless you include under your signature, “All rights reserved” or put “VC” before your signature (Vi Coactus… means ‘under duress’, therefor making the contract null and void)
You also ‘consent’ to the rules of the administrative corporation handling the bankruptcy of the commonwealth by voting, using reserve notes, using a postcode, etc.
Nice theory and all with one flaw
*their
Yes your point about Commonwealth law is correct. It would have to be argued in a Magistrates Court. Magistrates usually will not allow such arguments in these situations and you would have to then take it on appeal to the District Court where it should stand up. Editor
Not exactly true, and if it is a Copper that told you that, guess what? You were scammed.
Section 109 of the Australian Constitution,
When a law of a State is inconsistent with a law of the Commonwealth, the latter shall prevail, and the former shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be invalid.
CRIMES ACT 1914 – SECT 3T
Searches without warrant in emergency situations
(1) This section applies if a constable suspects, on reasonable grounds, that:
(a) a thing relevant to an indictable offence is in or on a conveyance; and
(b) it is necessary to exercise a power under subsection (2) in order to prevent the thing from being concealed, lost or destroyed; and
(c) it is necessary to exercise the power without the authority of a search warrant because the circumstances are serious and urgent.
(2) The constable may:
(a) stop and detain the conveyance; and
(b) search the conveyance and any container in or on the conveyance, for the thing; and
(c) seize the thing if he or she finds it there.
(3) If, in the course of searching for the thing, the constable finds another thing relevant to an indictable offence or a thing relevant to a summary offence, the constable may seize that thing if he or she suspects, on reasonable grounds, that:
(a) it is necessary to seize it in order to prevent its concealment, loss or destruction; and
(b) it is necessary to seize it without the authority of a search warrant because the circumstances are serious and urgent.
(4) The constable must exercise his or her powers subject to section 3U.
CRIMES ACT 1914 – SECT 3U
How a constable exercises a power under section 3T
When a constable exercises a power under section 3T in relation to a conveyance, he or she:
(a) may use such assistance as is necessary; and
(b) must search the conveyance in a public place or in some other place to which members of the public have ready access; and
(c) must not detain the conveyance for longer than is necessary and reasonable to search it and any container found in or on the conveyance; and
(d) may use such force as is necessary and reasonable in the circumstances, but must not damage the conveyance or any container found in or on the conveyance by forcing open a part of the conveyance or container unless:
(i) the person (if any) apparently in charge of the conveyance has been given a reasonable opportunity to open that part or container; or
(ii) it is not possible to give that person such an opportunity.
Well said. How appropriate. Editor
Queensland. Fine one day, more fines the next
Pat~ The picture was posted before we realised it was a Victorian cop, however cops are cops around this nation and follow suit when another states devises a revenue gravy train.
why is there a photo of a victorian cop???
This type of thing is the tip of the iceberg! Voting in new governments does not change anything. The size of the monster below them is too hard for them to grasp let alone control.
Every government department in western countries these days constantly creates legislation for their own benefit. Peoples rights and freedoms come in a very poor second. In the above example for instance, the recorded information is only available to the police and other authorized people. This means that they can deem anyone they see fit as authorized. The information once recorded is there for ever and at any time they may deem another government department as authorized (or an insurance company as the officer points out). What you did may not be wrong or illegal in the eyes of one department may be a reason to disbar you in another department. There is an enormous amount of this crap going on that the average person has no idea about. They find out when something goes wrong. Most people in Australia are not apathetic as they used to be, they are pissed off about something. But it is divide and conquer for the government departments as they are all arguing about their own issue and there are many.
If you want to stop things like this you need to push for something like a new government department who’s job is: To manage red tape and make sure all the other government departments are doing what they were created for and not just trying to expand their own damn empires all the time!
One person cannot make a difference here. It will take years and an organization to reverse this trend. Why? Because modern government bodies behave like people. If they are loosing the argument legally they will try to work out another way around you (and the organization against them and an overall acknowledgment of the problem hasn’t even formed yet).
Mathematically 51% of the vote takes the seat. Mathematically negative attitude is assured defeat. Most of the party faithful sheeple believe your formula so there is no chance of change with that attitude. Control of the parliament outside the duopoly is a great starting point to get change implemented as the carrot on the string enlarges the power base of dictators diminishes forcing cracks in the entrenched fortress of the mandarins of power.
So . . . Will this mean that it will be a ‘piece of cake’ to locate your vehicle if it has been stolen? Will this mean that when you’ve been abducted in your own vehicle that they will be quickly able to find and rescue you? . . . .OR . . . easily trace all of the vehicles that were near that area at the time you went missing – giving them a list of suspects or potential witnesses?
The real questions this raises are, How is this legal to store your all this information about your movements? Shouldn’t drivers have the option to consent for personal information to be stored? I for one do not consent to my movements being shared with government agencies, even worse, shared or on sold to insurance companies, google or whoever.
Did you read the reply from the Main Roads Department? It is quite clear in their admission they can track any vehicle that passes a camera. Editor
No, there are not enough non LNP or Labor, single party based candidates to form a government without a coalition (which would have to rely on LNP or ALP), even if every candidate of that party was elected, so it is mathematically impossible for any other party to take power.
Sounds more like you were pinged by Council CitySafe cameras. ANPR cameras wont ping you for parking, they don’t work that way. They are not monitored the same way and don’t work in real time as you describe. It is not possible for ANPR Cameras to be involved in the situation you describe, simply not possible.
Here in the U.S., I once asked a State Police Man if they had a quota to meet on their shift. He said no, but if the Patrolman that did your shift before you, wrote 8 speeding tickets a shift, you had better at least do that or more. But there was no written directive telling him how many tickets to write.
Mate you don’t have a choice if the police want to search your car. All they need is a suspicion that you are carryind drugs or illegal weapons are basically anything illegal, Even worse if you have a record. I have spent 40 minutes with an officer while he read thru every tet message on my phone because of my record and that’s the law its Fucked but that’s the way it is
Yes I got a parking ticket from one of these camera’s, totally uncalled for… I was dropping my 15 year old son off for his first day of work experience in the city and was only gone a matter of minutes to make sure we had the right building and that he was safe as it was in the Valley notorious for trouble….They told me they were watching me! Sorry my son comes first!!!!!
Qld Police do these things to justify their existence in the face of severe budgetary restraints – which puts pressure on outlays for them, brought on by a state debt of $75Bn which has to be serviced out of a State Budget of only $50Bn, which can’t be done.
You will have your chance at the next election to remove the duopoly LNP/LABOR dictatorship, however my bet is that you will vote one of those back in thus continuing the nanny state control of power that runs the joint now …
I believe that these camera’s are here in the U.S. I guess they have started to photograph speeding vehicles and sending the owners a ticket whether or not they were in the vehicle. I am not sure where, but its getting bad out there.
Police state bullshit. Never allow cops to search your vehicle.
its all there to justify there own existence , its been here for years , its not about law and order , its about them , they have to create a living to gather more cash for them , so they can survive , its a very corrupt system ,and has been for decades , But one day the walls will fall , and watch them scatter then . they will dob in there mates to survie , and maybe the truth will come out , the qld police and the gov , have been illegal for years , it will come soon . and this time the courts have to do something . goodnight qldpol .and the bullshit media that get back payements as well , your all prostitutes