QCW COMMENT:
It was a totally idiotic thing for the three teenagers to attempt to float 50km downstream from Ipswich to Brisbane along the Bremer and Brisbane Rivers on blow-up mattresses. (See story below.)
These clowns should be roundly condemned for their dangerous stupidity.
But the question needs to be asked as to why the forces of the Queensland criminal law should be wasted on prosecuting this trio.
Queenslanders do relatively stupid things every day and are never charged with public nuisance.
Examples include:
• Driving through flooded streams and causeways
• Climbing places such as Mt Tibrogargan
• Fishing off sea walls and rock ledges
• Swimming outside the flags on patrolled beaches
• Using hang gliders and gyrocopters.
No one ever gets charged for these "crimes".
But if you are a fun-loving kid from Ipswich, you are hauled off to the slammer and treated like a common criminal for throwing blow-up mattresses into the Bremer River for a bit of a frolic.
When the "public nuisance" provisions replaced the old "disorderly conduct" offence under the Queensland Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act 1931", it was never thought that the Queensland police state would re-emerge as strong as ever having gone into hibernation following the anti-authoritarian Bjelke-Petersen regime from 1968 to 1987.
Now, every human foible and minor peccadillo runs the risk of police scrutiny and prosecution in the already overloaded magistrates court.
The Queensland Police Service under Commissioner Bob Atkinson should stop being the self-appointed fun police of Queensland.
Who could ever forget the disgraceful police incident some years ago when an all-night party goer walking through the Brisbane Mall around 6am wearing a tutu was arrested for creating a public nuisance.
Who did he offend? Who was he a nuisance to? - Just a couple of prude coppers, no doubt.
It is also reminiscent of the disgraceful incident at the Goodna Boat Ramp when a speedboat driver who had been involved in a crash on the river objected to being filmed by a television news cameraman.
The Goodna Police threatened to charge the cameraman - who was over 30 metres away - with public nuisance if he continued.
That was a pure neo-Nazi approach to closing down the Queensland media and denying the public the right to know about the incident which occurred in a public place and was a matter of genuine public interest.
Police harassment of fun-loving Queenslanders - and the media - should stop now.
Commissioner Atkinson should put that as Number 1 on his list of 2011 New Year's Resolutions.
Original Story:
www.brisbanetimes.com.au
27.12.2010
Teens float 15km along dangerously swollen river
Daniel Hurst
December 27, 2010 - 7:59PM

Three men in Ipswich attempted to float from Ipswich to South Bank on blow-up air mattresses.
Three teenagers allegedly tried to float 50 kilometres from Ipswich to Brisbane on blow-up air mattresses amid dangerous conditions have been charged with public nuisance.
Police said the men, one aged 18 and the other two 17, began their quest to ride to Brisbane's South Bank when they entered the swollen and fast-flowing Bremer River around lunch time today.
The "foolish" trio allegedly launched their single blow-up mattresses at the point where Ironpot Creek flows into the Bremer River, near Gregory and Sydney streets, just to the north-west of central Ipswich.
Police received a call just before 1pm from a worried resident who saw the men floating down the river, but officers were unable to find the trio when they conducted a patrol near Sydney Street.
During this time another observer approached police, triggering an extensive search involving four police crews and then SES swift water rescuers.
The SES patrolled from the Brisbane River and Bremer River junction, finding the group about 500 metres south of the Warrego Highway bridge over the Bremer River.
Police said the trio had floated about 15 kilometres, during which time police received nearly a dozen triple-zero calls to assist the men, before they were retrieved from the river at 2.30pm.
If they had made it to their destination of South Bank, the men would have travelled about 50 kilometres.
A police statement said the men, who were from West Ipswich and Redbank Plains, were issued with notices to appear in court for public nuisance offences.
The statement castigated the men over their "foolish and dangerous" behaviour, saying conditions could change rapidly.
"This type of behaviour is hazardous and unpredictable due to the nature of flood waters and the dangers associated with storm debris and road washouts," police said in the statement.
"Parents are also reminded to ensure their children are not playing in flood prone waterways, watercourses and drains as water levels can rise quickly."
Meanwhile, two adults and two children have been winched to safety after getting stranded and clinging to a tree in floods south of Toowoomba.
An Emergency Management Queensland helicopter had to be brought in to assist the four people, who became stuck along Toowoomba Karara Road near Leyburn this afternoon, a spokesman said.
Authorities were called to the scene about 3.30pm but Queensland Fire and Rescue workers were unable to get to the group by vehicle, he said.
They were winched to safety just before 5pm.
The EMQ spokesman could not confirm how the group became stranded, but the incident comes in the wake of repeated warnings by authorities not to drive across flooded roads.
Earlier today, Acting Queensland Premier Paul Lucas said 20 people had been rescued by swift water rescue crews in the past two days following the recent deluge.
Police, meanwhile, said two children were lucky to survive after they were swept into waters at Proston, northwest of Kingaroy, today.
The 16-year-old girl and her 17-year-old brother were believed to have been attempting to cross the flooded Stuart River Bridge on Boondooma Road when they were swept downstream by the fast-flowing waters, police said.
They grabbed onto a tree and held onto it while awaiting rescue by emergency services workers.
Gympie Superintendent Ron Van Saane said the two were extremely lucky to have escaped their ordeal relatively unscathed.
"This was so nearly a terrible tragedy for a Queensland family," he said in a statement.
"We are again urging members of the public not to enter or drive into flood waters.
"They are inherently dangerous with many unforeseen hazards. Do not be deceived by the surface appearance of water, and don't risk your life or that of others by trying cross swollen bridges or watercourses."
