A 70-year-old man arrested under Queensland’s new hate speech laws has told the court that he wanted to plead insanity, because he “thinks the charge is insane.”
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXFuJvUD2oU/?igsh=ZHFpaHE4eDBzMXc1
Jim Dowling, was charged with one count of publicly displaying a prohibited expression under s52DA of the Queensland Criminal Code.
Jim Dowling last month protested outside the Brisbane headquarters of Weapons manufacturer Boeing, a company that makes and supplies Israel with F15 and wing kits for bombs.
Mr Dowling said he had a banner with the words: “From the river t███████████████████ [Redacted under Queensland Government directive (2026).] Brisbane will be free of Boeing.”
The term “███████████████████ [Redacted under government directive] was outlawed by the Queensland government last month, when expressed in a way that makes a member of the public feel menaced, harassed or offended.
The state government and many Jewish organisations falsely claim the phrase is antisemitic.
‘The charge insane’
Jim has spent the last two years outside Boeing at 123 Albert Street, so called Brisbane, dressed as the Grim Reaper, in a black cloak carrying a scythe, and his warnings have come true in the Middle East, as we have seen with Trump’s insane war against Iran.
In Brisbane Arrest Court on Tuesday morning, Magistrate Belinda Merrin asked Dowling how he would like to proceed with the charge.
“I’d like to plead insanity, I think the charge is insane and anyone who takes it is a bit suss as well,” he responded.
Mr Dowling told the court he intends to plead insanity, claiming the “charge is insane”. (ABC News: Lucy Loram)
Magistrate Merin told Mr Dowling that he had the right to do so, but he would need to produce evidence to the court to prove it.
“Ordinarily, you will need to provide a psychiatrist report. Do you have plans for that?” Magistrate Belinda Merrin asked.
“It’s not that I’m insane, it’s that I think the law is insane,” Mr Dowling responded.
“I see, I will note that you are contesting the charge,” Magistrate Merrin told the court.
Drop the charges
After his mention in court, Mr Dowling was cheered after giving a press conference organised by Justice for Palestine.
This what he had to say to the press:
“A bunch of us were at Boeing two years ago after Boeing had fast tracked 1000 bombs to Israel, which slaughtered 75,000 people over the last couple of years. Not all Boeing bombs, of course, but many of them were right here in Brisbane, is a place that manufactures the wind kits for all our smart bombs at Boeing drop on people. So for two years, we’ve been going there every Wednesday.
Boeing headquarters in Brisbane, the biggest Boeing Defence building in the world, apart from America, 1500 employees worked there, according to the secretary who was on court in court last time we arrested them. So after this insane law was introduced, I held a placard outside Boeing that said, from the river ███████████████████ [Redacted under Queensland Government directive (2026).] not ocean could be arrested again.
And the police came and arrested me for that. They asked me what it meant. They said, Well, it means we don’t want Boeing anywhere in Brisbane, from the river over there, right out to the ocean. We want Boeing out of Brisbane, because they wanted me to incriminate myself by talking about Palestine Israel, which eventually I did not that anything to do with my sign, of course.
Anyhow, they asked me when, you know when this phrase was first introduced? And I said, “Oh yeah, probably about 10,000 years ago when they invented English.” Something they want to take my canoe from the river to the sea. Anyhow, had a few laughs with them. That was the end of it. Here I am today, charged with this amazing law of having a sign that says from the river to the sea.
One thought on “Catholic worker pleads insanity!”