KEY POINTS:
A court injunction preventing pornographer Steve Crow from holding the Boobs on Bikes parade could be decided today.
The Auckland City Council began legal action yesterday to enforce a decision not to grant a permit for the event, in which bare-breasted women parade down Queen St on open-top cars and motorbikes as a promotion for Mr Crow's R-18 Erotica Lifestyles Expo.
The first step was a letter from the council's lawyers to Mr Crow seeking an undertaking that he would not breach a new bylaw aimed at stopping events deemed offensive. The council took an urgent decision on Monday under the bylaw not to grant the parade a permit.
Yesterday afternoon, Mr Crow said he had not received a letter from the council lawyers, Simpson Grierson, but regardless, the parade would go ahead next Wednesday. If Mr Crow sticks with that line, the council will seek an injunction in the Auckland District Court today.
Carl Rowling, head of the council's legal department, said: "It comes down to a pretty fundamental public policy issue. Someone flouting the law."
Mr Crow said he would be very surprised if the court granted an injunction. "My own legal advice tells me what we are doing is legal and the bylaw does not have any legal basis under our Bill of Rights," he said.
Mr Crow said if the court granted an injunction, the parade would still proceed and he would be prepared to be arrested "because, as I say, I think it is a breach of the Bill of Rights".
Councillor Cathy Casey, who initiated the court action, told yesterday's city development committee that the parade had nothing to do with the Bill of Rights and freedom of expression.
She said it was a blatant marketing exercise to promote the expo and use Queen St to sell hard core pornography. "If this council can't control what goes on in Queen St, why are we here?" she said.
All but one member of the committee supported the action. Councillor Bill Christian said the parade should go ahead for civil liberty reasons.
Family First national director Bob McCoskie said the parade was "in-your-face sexualised nudity" and supported enforcing the bylaw to stop it before it happened.
