Family Name:
Payne
Given Names:
Michael John
Gender:
Male
Birth-date:
Unknown, probably 1952
Death-date:
Unknown
Marital Status:
Unknown, probably single
Age:
20 years old
Location:
WA
Occupation:
Clerk/ Psychiatric Nurse
Primary Motivation:
Draft Resister, Anarchist
Reason for Court Appearance:
[1] Obstruction of a police officer
[2] Participation in a protest
[3] Refusal to register for national service
[4] Continued refusal to register for national service
[5] Carrying an offensive weapon (smoke flare)
[6] Continued refusal to register for national service
Court Name and Location:
[1] Unknown, Unknown
[2] Unknown, Unknown
[3] Unknown, Unknown
[4] Unknown, Unknown
[5] Unknown, Unknown
[6] Unknown, Unknown
Court Hearing Date:
[1] August 1970
[2] 1971
[3] 1972
[4] 29 September 1972
[5] October 1972
[6] Late October 1972
Court Outcome:
[1] Fine $20
[2] Disorderly conduct caution
[3] Fine $40
[4] 7 days jail and fine $50 for attempting to escape from legal custody
[5] Fine $50
[6] Sentenced to 18 months jail
Military Event:
National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972
Further Information:
Michael Payne was a 20-year-old from Western Australia. He was a Psychiatric Nurse. He refused to register for national service under the National Service Act 1964 (NSA). He was also active in protesting against conscription and the Vietnam war as well as against contemporary Australian society in general. He followed an anarchist philosophy. One protest was in the Perth office of the Department of Labour and National Service (DLNS) on 7 August 1970. The demonstrators were 24 students, which included Michael. They were arrested and placed in the East Perth lock-up. Apparently, the students were ‘larking about’ which included singing and swinging on the bars much to the annoyance of the police. The police stripped Michael and locked him in a damp and totally dark room. It was the middle of winter. Eventually all were bailed out. He was fined $20 for obstruction of a police officer. During 1971 he escaped with a caution for ‘disorderly conduct’ during another protest.
He was fined $40 for refusing to register under the NSA during 1972.
On 29 September 1972 he was convicted and sentenced to 7 days prison for continually failing to register. He was also fined $50 for attempting to escape legal custody. Yet again Michael was also fined $50 for carrying an offensive weapon, a smoke flare to be used in a demonstration, during October 1972. He was convicted for his refusal to register for national service in October 1972 for 18 months jail. Initially he was imprisoned in Fremantle and then later at Karnet Prison Farm, south of Perth. He described the bad conditions in Fremantle in similar terms to other non-compliers and conscientious objectors who were imprisoned. The prison was overcrowded, At time 3 persons shared a cell with one toilet bucket. It was also tense with a worry of a beating or rape. Michael was put in solitary confinement because he refused to call an officer ‘sir’. He said that his prison experience at Karnet was ‘fairly laid back’ compared to Fremantle. The newly elected Labor party government of 2 December 1972 suspended the NSA and released on 7 December all those in prison for non-compliance with the NSA. Michael had been imprisoned since 23 October 1972. After his release Michael continued with his involvement with anarchist and peace groups. He organized and participated in protests against Australia’s involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Confirmatory Sources:
Bobbie Oliver, Hell! No! We Won’t Go Resistance to Conscription in Postwar Australia, Interventions, Melbourne, 2022, esp. pp.123-124, 170, 188-189 and 205-208.Canberra Times, 7 December 1972, p.9.
THE AUSTRALIAN PEACE HONOUR ROLL 