There are a lot of laws out there, and a lot of the time they just sit there until someone goes “hey, this is a bit weird, we should get rid of that.” And one that gets brought up a lot is that you can wee on your car in public.
Sadly, however, a lot of the weird laws in Australia turn out to be no entirely correct – almost as though you shouldn’t turn to the internet for random legal advice.
One that gets brought up relatively often is that it’s illegal to be drunk in a pub in Australia. And that’s sort of true: it’s illegal to serve someone who is visibly drunk under Responsible Service laws
And yes, you can absolutely be fined in South Australia for singing rude songs in public: it’s covered under the Summary Offences Act.
It’s also illegal to interrupt a wedding or funeral in SA, thanks again to the Summary Offences Act (section 7A). Which is just one of the reasons why The Graduate and My Best Friend’s Wedding weren’t set in Adelaide.
And yes, it is actually illegal to own more than 50kg of potatoes: at least, in WA where the the Marketing of Potatoes Act 1946 is still in application.
Another popular one is that that it’s illegal to walk on the left hand side of the road, which is sort of true – but only sort of.
If a road has no footpath or nature strip, or if it’s not practical to use said footpath or nature strip, the law says that pedestrians must walk facing the traffic as a road safety measure.
Depressingly, some of the most hilarious laws cited as being weird Australian laws are either no longer current (for example, in Victoria it was technically illegal to change your own lightbulb unless you were a qualified electrician, but that law was changed in 1998) or just plain made up.
For example: that you can wee in public as long as you are urinating on the rear left tyre of your own car. Police would like to advise that no, that’s not a thing and please stop doing it, you will definitely be arrested. You’ll even get a $500 on the spot fine for it in WA.
Another one is that it’s illegal to wear pink hot pants in Victoria on Sunday afternoons. It’s on dozens of “can you believe this crazy law?” sites with many questions about what could possibly have inspired such specific legislation, and the answer is simple: nothing. As far as anyone can ascertain, it doesn’t and have never existed.
Nor, sadly, is there a law forcing Queensland taxi drivers to carry hay bales, or any legislation demanding bikini sizes on Gold Coast beaches (or demanding neck-to-knee bathers in Melbourne).
Some things are just too good to be true.