Peace activist Danny Lim vows to take his fight against $500 fine to the High Court

DANNY Lim has vowed to fight a $500 fine for wearing an “offensive” sign trolling former prime minister Tony Abbott.

HE’S the grinning, long-haired peacenik who crops up at protests, council meetings and busy intersections across Sydney.

Along with his a Pomeranian-Chihuahua cross Smarty, Danny Lim is devoted to spreading a message of love while urging politicians to take action on climate change, health and education.

If you’ve ever been to sporting match, caught public transport or strolled down Pitt Street Mall, chances are you will have seen the eye-catching duo.

But after more than a decade of his sign-wielding antics, the 74-year-old has come up against the long arm of the law.

One of his cheeky slogans — targeting former prime minister Tony Abbott — crossed an invisible line in the eyes of police.

He has refused to pay a $500 infringement notice for “offensive behaviour” over a sign that read: “Peace smile. People can change. Tony you can’t”— with the “A” in “can’t” printed upside down, to hint at the use of an obscenity.

“The case went well”, Mr Lim said outside court last week.

The sign that caused all the trouble.

Now Mr Lim is gearing up to take the dispute to the highest court in the land, refusing to bow to what he sees as an attempt to censor his political expression.

Speaking outside the Downing Centre Local Court last month, the self described “social activist” told the Inner West Courier he was prepared to “go all the way to the High Court” to defend his right to protest.

“It’s become a matter of principle,” he said. “It comes down to freedom of speech because for me, political correctness has gone too far. My signs are not intended to be offensive … They’re about peace, love and to make people smile.”

Mr Lim shows his support for the Keep Sydney Open movement, taking aim at then Premier Mike Baird.

Lawyer Danny Wrench, who is representing Mr Lim pro bono, argued that his client had “reasonable excuse under freedom of information and communications” to have used the language in the sign, the Inner West Courier reported.

Supporters have rallied behind Mr Lim with a crowd-funding appeal, raise more than $700 to help him pay the fine, but he has refused to accept the cash, saying he wants to fight the matter in court.

In an interview with 2SER radio shortly after he received the fine in 2015, Mr Lim expressed concern that other immigrants with limited English skills may be discouraged from participating in the political process.

“What happened to me I think scared the s*** out of everyone, they don't want to get involved,” he said.

More recently, the Canterbury Bulldogs fan was ordered to leave his spot outside Olympic Park Stadium where he was holding a sign designed to support the Cronulla Sharks.

“Can anyone out there see why these two signs were offensive? Because for the life of me l can’t understand how they are!” he wrote on Facebook last Friday.

Other signs that Mr Lim has wielded over the years took aim at politicians like Malcolm Turnbull, and supported causes including marriage equality and ending Japan’s whaling program.

It all started in the 2000s when Mr Lim was frustrated by the machinations of then MP Eddie Obeid and a web of corruption ensnaring his local Strathfield Council.

After spending three years staking out council meetings wearing a sandwich board demanding an end to the corruption, Mr Lim was elected as a councillor in late 2008.

He quickly developed a reputation as Sydney’s most eccentric councillor, refusing to be photographed for the council website— requesting that an image of his pet dog be used instead.

Mr Lim targets PM Malcolm Turnbull in the lead up to his Senate bid at last year’s Federal “Erection”.

“Even with my business card I said ‘can I have it with Smarty?’ But they refused,” he told the Daily Telegraph at the time.

He forced the jobs of mayor and deputy mayor to be drawn from a lolly jar because of a deadlocked vote, became the first NSW councillor in 123 years to win a no-confidence vote against the mayor and swamped council staff with more than 100 motions, including one opposing a cull of feral cats.

But in 2010 he resigned after receiving death threats directed not only at himself, but also his beloved Smarty.

Mr Lim ran unsuccessfully for the Federal Senate last year, vowing to create “a fairer, kinder, juster Australia”.

He is scheduled to reappear at the Downing Centre on March 13.

— With David Barwell

[e-mail]