Bikies band together to battle gang legislation

CANBERRA - Australia's outlaw motorcycle gangs have begun a new turf war.

But this time they are fighting together, against federal and state Governments, in courts and Parliaments.

Their own political party, Free Australia, will contest the next South Australian elections, with more state branches likely to be formed to run for seats in New South Wales, Queensland and, ultimately, Canberra.

Fighting funds are also being primed with cash to engage high-flying lawyers to challenge Governments in the courts, and to advise on public relations campaigns already under way to enlist the sympathies of civil libertarians and others concerned at the erosion of personal freedoms.

Their immediate target is tough, extremely broad legislation enacted in South Australia to clamp down on bikie crime.

Also in their sights are similar laws being drawn up in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory, with Western Australia preparing to follow suit.

They will now face further national action, after the decision by state and federal Attorneys-General to erect a new uniform framework to fight organised crime and, specifically, the motorcycle outlaws.

The federal Government is also preparing new corporations law to block the gangs and their members from boardrooms, and to deny them credit licences, part of a campaign to deny organised crime the ability to use companies as fronts and to launder money.

Already, the SA Government is using its new laws to crush the Finks motorcycle club by beginning the legal manoeuvres that will declare it an illegal organisation and ban its members from associating with each other.

And while the gangs are trying to pull a concerted front together, they remain locked in a bloody battle on the streets.

The fatal brawl between Hells Angels and Commancheros at Sydney airport last month, and several shootings since, handed legislators the trigger they needed to begin drafting draconian new laws.

Yesterday, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported that the US headquarters of the Hells Angels, shamed at the lack of retaliation by their Australian chapters against attacks by Commancheros, had ordered members here to shoot on sight members of the rival gang.

The previous day, the newspaper reported, two Commancheros had been arrested in the Hells Angel Sydney stronghold of Roselands carrying balaclavas, a machete, duct tape and other items that a gang source said were used for kidnapping.

The federal organised crime-busting agency, the Australian Crime Commission, told a Senate inquiry that the nation's 39 bikie gangs, with 3300 patched members, presented "a real and present criminal threat" to Australia.

Commission chief executive John Lawler said the gangs were resilient and dynamic, and had forged links with some of the most serious organised criminals in Australia and internationally.

Police have long claimed the gangs have been involved in organised crime, from narcotics to murder, kidnapping, and fraud.

One of the early triggers for SA's crackdown was a New Zealand Police report handed to now-Premier Mike Rann - a former Kiwi - detailing moves to amalgamate gangs to produce larger, more efficient criminal networks.

The report, which warned that smaller gangs would be absorbed by extreme violence if need be, said that the proposal had been discussed by representatives of the Hells Angels, Outlaws, Bandidos, Rebels, Black Uhlans and Nomads in Sydney in 1994.

Launching a specialised anti-bikie taskforce in Adelaide, then-Police Minister Paul Holloway said the gangs were involved in drugs, murder, extortion and other forms of violence and intimidation.

They had also diversified into legal business operations, and forged links with both organised crime groups and street gangs.



The most recent round of shootings, bashings and bombings in New South Wales - including the murder in Canberra last month of Richard "Rebel Rick" Roberts, a senior New Zealand-born Rebel - was the last straw.

SA had introduced laws that enable the state Attorney-General to declare a gang a criminal organisation and to impose control orders on its members, severely limiting their rights to associate with each other and their freedom of movement.

Bikie gangs can be banned from specified areas and ordered not to display colours and insignia, and can be prevented from possessing equipment - such as chemical precursors, high-intensity lights and carbon filters - that can be used to manufacture or grow drugs.

Police have also been given special coercive investigative powers, and can confiscate wealth and assets gang members cannot explain.

Similar laws are now being drawn up in Melbourne, Darwin and Sydney, where NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos intends adding powers to block bikies from such businesses as security, pawnbroking and motor vehicle repairs.

Federal and state Governments will also create a nationwide legal framework that will include tougher questioning and interrogation powers and the ability to operate across borders and seize the proceeds of crime.

But, supported by civil libertarians, the bikies are fighting back.

Queensland's 17 gangs have formed the United Motorcycle Organisation in a united front against the laws proposed by Premier Anna Bligh.

In Sydney, where lawyers have briefed clubs on the state's proposed laws, bikies are reportedly preparing to overcome their differences and meet to discuss a possible High Court challenge.

In SA the State Electoral Commission has formally registered Free Australia, which will field two Upper House and five Lower House candidates at the next state election.

The immediate aim of the party - full name Freedom Rights Environment Education Australia Party - is to have the state's anti-bikie laws repealed.

But it has also broadened its policies. It wants far more resources devoted to the environment - especially the ailing Murray Darling River system - improvements to the state's "poorly funded and directed" education system, and to protect workers' rights.
The party also wants a charter of human rights and a crackdown on corruption, including the creation of an Independent Commission Against Corruption.

That's taking turf war to a new level.