Fences are Evil.

So says Mal Brough.

He was in Darwin yesterday and had this comment to make about a fence at the Aboriginal community of Bagot, located right in the heart of Darwin,

It is an appalling circumstance when a government of any persuasion puts a fence up between one part of its community and another and lets what goes on behind the fence hide behind it.

According to Brough, problems are being allowed to “fester” behind this awful fence. It must be a veritable Berlin Wall in Darwin the way Brough is talking.

In case you don’t have the pleasure of living in Darwin, here is the offending structure,

A 2 m high section of corrugated metal cladding, interspersed with roughly equal parts of this,

1.5 m high pool fencing, which, lest my eyes deceive me, seems rather transparent.

The new fence replaced a dilapidated falling down cyclone fence a few year ago. One the reasons it was replaced was for safety, as the previous fence allowed people to cross the road at any point, which they did, often at night. Bagot sits right on Bagot Rd, a 6 lane stretch that is one of the busiest in Darwin. I’ve had personal experience of almost running someone over as they made the dash across.

Mad Mal promises to tear the new fence down. Apparently Aboriginal people are not allowed to have a fence and a bit of nice shubbery.

But just a kilometer away on the same stretch of busy road is the relatively new housing development of Parap Grove and the fence they erected in response to the traffic noise.

 

2.5m of pure concrete unbroken for about 250m. What are they trying to hide?