Pepper spray for self-defense is an idea whose time has come. How do I know?
Because of this, I covered it at the time. A 36-year-old man jumping the counter at the Gotham City brothel in Melbourne, breaking one of the workers ribs in a physical altercation before being subdued instantly when he coughed a perfect shot of pepper spray to the face. Honestly, this might as well be an advertisement for pepper spray. Just cut it up into a 30 second spot and run it on repeat. You could not have choreographed this better to prove the point. Pepper spray works for self-defense.
Here’s the thing. The man who assaulted these women has been charged in the Frankston court and remanded in custody. The worker who used the illegal weapon, again, pepper spray, to protect herself and her colleague, no charges have been laid against her at this point in time, and I have no reason to believe that charges ever will be laid. The incident happened more than 40 days ago. The facts are not in dispute. The lack of charges against the woman that we saw using pepper spray is not for a lack of evidence. It’s because a decision has been made not to lay charges. Internally, they would have simply decided that laying weapons charges in this case is not in the public interest. That’s the police get out of jail free card that they can use whenever a case arises where the law itself is obviously an ass.
But if the attack hadn’t been caught on camera, if it had not hit the headlines the way that it did with that video, you bet she would have been charged as other people have been. But once the public saw this video, no one can argue that she’s done the wrong thing. And that’s why legalized pepper spray for self-defense is now an idea whose time has come. We have a moment in time to make this happen.
The crime wave in Victoria especially, but Australia wide generally is undeniable.
The fact that criminals everywhere are already arming themselves with weapons far worse than pepper spray is a matter of public record and thanks to this video. The fact that pepper spray can be very helpful for victims is also now undeniable. And the lack of charges against this brothel worker show that either Victoria police or the Victorian government or probably both know that public patience has run out and the people will no longer be denied the necessary means of their own self-defense.
Which is why it’s important to bring to your attention the fact that David Limbrick MP is sponsoring an official parliamentary petition to legalize pepper spray in Victoria. Now, it’s attracted a few a few thousand signatures already, but we need to get this into the tens of thousands, even the hundreds of thousands. So, in this video, I’m going to read you the petition, show you where to find it. Link in the description, by the way. And then I’m going to do a little bit of myth busting about parliamentary petitions, about what happens with a petition, and what happens with the data of the people who signed the petition. We’ll get to all of that in a moment, but first, my name’s Topher Field. This is the Topher Project, and I help busy people like you to keep up with the world as it changes around us and attitudes towards self-defense are most certainly changing, which is why we need to make the most of this moment in time.
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Okay, you’ll find this parliamentary petition via the link in the description of this video. However, if that link is broken, just search for pepper spray petition Victoria and look for the parliament.vic.gov.au website that looks like this. It’s petition number 674 and it closes on the 1st of January 2026. But because things tend to go a bit quiet over Christmas, we really need to get people onto this straight away.
Now, here’s what it actually says. The petition of certain citizens of the state of Victoria draws to the attention of the legislative council that violent crime,
particularly criminal offenses involving the use of weapons such as knives and machetes, have become a pressing and critical issue in Victoria. Many residents do not feel safe in their own homes or being out and about every day. This is especially the case for vulnerable Victorians such as elderly people. The purchase and use of pepper spray by adults 18 years and over with no criminal convictions should be legalized to allow individuals the ability to protect themselves by non-lethal means should they face a violent confrontation where they are threatened with a weapon. This is the case in Western Australia and soon to be introduced in the Northern Territory as well. The petitioners therefore request that the legislative council call on the government to legalize the purchase and use of pepper spray by adults with no criminal convictions for personal protection by non-lethal means should they face a violent confrontation and are threatened with a weapon.
So, if you’re a Victorian and you agree with that petition, don’t just sign it, spread it. Now, let me answer a few common questions about petitions. Firstly, what’s the point? What happens with a parliamentary petition anyway? Well, if there’s more than 10,000 signatures by the time it finishes, then David Limbrick MP will be able to bring a debate into the upper house of parliament to talk about this idea of legalizing pepper spray. What does that do? Well, by itself, not much. But as part of a wider public and political campaign, it does take us one step closer to legislation being drafted and pepper spray being legalized for Victorians. It’s just part of a much bigger project. And if you’re not even willing to sign a petition from the comfort of your own couch, then be honest with yourself. You’re just an NPC.
Now, some people do worry that petitions are just about data harvesting, and that can be true. But it’s not true for a parliamentary petition. Now, I don’t promote change.org petitions or other ones either. I don’t run any petitions of my own. I don’t play those games because unfortunately, a lot of those petitions really are just cynical data harvesting. It’s people who want your email address so that they can market to you later on. I don’t play those games. The beauty of parliamentary petitions specifically is that the person initiating the petition never gets your data. It’s not a data harvesting exercise and it can’t be because they simply never get your data. On top of that, there’s a good chance that it will lead to a debate in the parliament which simply will not happen with other forms of petition. So those are two key ways in which parliamentary petitions are different and way better than any of the other kinds of petitions that you’re right are often just about data harvesting and don’t actually achieve anything.
Now, one final thing before I finish. People get hung up on these terms and conditions on the right hand side of the website
especially the second one where you have to check the box to say I am aware that once this petition is presented and it will be a permanent record of the parliament and the names and addresses of the people who signed the petition will be public. Now, that sounds really scary and off-putting and I have to wonder if it’s been worded that way deliberately to try and reduce the number of people who would be willing to sign a parliamentary petition. Here’s the thing. When it says that the record is public, it simply means that the record is kept on the the record. It’s not published. People won’t be able to look up the petition online and see where you live. It’s just kept by the parliament as a record. So, that if there were ever a need for the petition, for example, to be audited, say to prove that the people who signed it really do exist and really do live in Victoria, all of that data is kept by the parliament. It is on the record held by the government, which by definition means that it’s on the public record, but it’s not actually publicly available. It’s not published. Your details are far more secure with a parliamentary petition than they ever will be with a change.org petition.
So, please don’t let any of that put you off. We need tens or even hundreds of thousands of signatures on this petition because legalized pepper spray for self-defense is an idea whose time has come. But even so, it is still up to us to make it happen. If you’re in Victoria, please sign the petition. And whether or not you’re in Victoria, pass this video and the link in the description on to everyone you know, even if they’re not in Victoria, because only Victorians can sign the petition. And that’s as it should be, but everyone you know might know people who live in Victoria. So, let’s just get this to spread far and wide.
My name’s Topher Field. This is the Topher project, and I help busy people like you to keep up with the world as it changes around us. I am 100% viewer supported. So if you appreciate having me doing what I do here at the Topher Project, then please support my work by buying me a coffee via the button at topherfield.net. And check out my books, DVDs, and merch at goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com. And don’t forget that five of my original Topher designs are going out of print in just a few days time. So, head over to goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com to grab yours before the end of November. And everything you buy will help me to keep the Topher project going.
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