Premier's challenge on gang laws

The architect of the toughest anti-gang laws in the world has challenged New Zealand to consider similar measures or risk becoming a "safe refuge".

South Australia Premier Mike Rann said gangs in the state were under "enormous pressure" since they were outlawed late last year.

The laws can make it illegal for gang members to even talk to one another. Breaching the ban can lead to up to five years in prison.

The ban has so far been applied only to the Finks motorcycle gang, but Mr Rann said the staunch opposition to the law showed it was disrupting gangs already

The South Australian Labor Government's measures had already been adopted by other states, he said, and there were moves to harmonise the hardline legislation nationwide.

Mr Rann said part of the reason it was being picked up around Australia was because the states did not want to become a refuge for gangs driven away from areas that had the tough laws - something New Zealand should consider.

"It is a national problem. It is an international problem. There should be no safe refuge," he told the Herald.

Mr Rann was raised in New Zealand and is a university friend of Labour leader Phil Goff. He was here speaking at the party's weekend conference.

Asked if an anti-gang law like his could work in New Zealand, Mr Rann said he believed so and the Government would be "wise to have a look".

Justice Minister Simon Power is keeping a watching brief and has visited South Australia to discuss the law.

Mr Goff has said Labour will adopt it as a policy if it is proven to work.

The South Australian laws are far more wide-ranging than Wanganui's gang patch ban.

A gang is outlawed by being declared a criminal organisation on advice from the police. Control orders can then be made against individual members, making it illegal for them to associate or communicate with others and public safety orders can be issued banning gangs from public places or events.

The Finks are the the first gang to be outlawed and the matter is now stalled in a legal wrangle. But Mr Rann said this was a sign of its success.

"If it won't work, then whyare bikies spending a fortuneto hire the best lawyers in thecountry to fight our legislation?"

Similar laws have already been passed in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory have legislation drawn up and Western Australia is preparing to follow suit.

Mr Rann said he had doubled the number of police officers on the gang taskforce.

"We gave police the resources and laws they asked for," he said.

He dismissed the argument put forward by some that gangs were a cultural development that could not be curbed by stringent laws.

"I don't accept this cultural thing ... Gangs are about using extortion, murder, rape and extreme violence to garner territory for selling drugs to kids."

* South Australia's policy

A gang is outlawed by being declared a criminal organisation on advice from the police.

Control orders can then be made against individual members, making it illegal for them to associate or communicate with other members and from being in certain places.

Police can also issue public safety orders banning gangs from public places or events.

Breaches of the law are punishable by up to five years in jail.