Family Name:
Mercer
Given Names:
Kent Glen
Gender:
Male
Birth-date:
Unknown, possibly1951
Death-date:
Unknown
Marital Status:
Unknown, probably single
Age Range:
Early 20s
Location:
WA
Occupation:
Unknown
Primary Motivation:
Draft Resister
Reason for Court Appearance:
Failure to register for national service
Court Name and Location:
Magistrates Court, Western Australia
Court Hearing Date:
15 April 1971
Court Outcome:
Convicted and fined
Military Event:
National Service and Vietnam War 1964-1972
Further Information:
Kent Mercer was from Western Australia. He opposed the National Service Act 1964 (NSA). He refused to register a 1971 intake of conscripts. He was summonsed to court on 15 April 1971. Magistrate Patterson convicted and fined him under the NSA. It was unlikely that Kent was prosecuted under the NSA. The government during 1971, and especially 1972, were reluctant to prosecute when the result would be jailing a young man. This was particularly in regard to a refusal to obey a call-up notice. This attracted 18 months’ imprisonment. The government aimed to minimize its political risk of having large numbers of young men in prison. All pending prosecutions under the NSA were stopped by the newly elected Whitlam Labor government in early December 1972.
Confirmatory Sources:
Bobbie Oliver, Hell No! We Won’t Go! Resistance to Conscription in Post War Australia, Interventions, Melbourne 2022, p.256.
Peacemaker, March/ April 1971, p.11.
THE AUSTRALIAN PEACE HONOUR ROLL 