[vacri]

in Australia

So, in Victoria at least, it was recently made illegal to leave your kids in the car for any length of time. Going inside to pay at the petrol station? Take your kids with you.

Admittedly it's not going to end you up in the middle of the story in the article, and you're going to have to be pretty unlucky to find a cop who's enough of a dickhead to apply this law apropos of no other issues, but technically it's now illegal to do so.

[ryan-allen]

Really? Holy crap! I live in Victoria (don't have kids), and this is news to me. I remember that it's illegal to leave your kids in cars on hot days, but that's it.

[vacri]

State legislation rarely makes the news, unless it's about a new highway somewhere :)

Last Week Tonight did an episode on how state legislatures in the US are passing heaps of legislation "on the sly" (scare quotes because it's not really sly, just no-one watches them...), and it's similar over here. Hell, I keep forgetting our current premier's name, and I voted for him... and I couldn't tell you the name of a single other state politician who isn't a party leader. I've even forgotten the name of the guy involved in the union scandal last week...

[welly]

Crazy. I'm up in the Northern Territory and it feels like anything goes here. (Almost).

[vacri]

NT doesn't have a proper state parliament, so you miss out on a lot of the fun. Fewer services, but fewer restrictions.