OZschwitz slave pen: WA to outlaw bikie gangs

Subject: OZschwitz slave pen: WA to outlaw bikie gangs Sat Sep 26, 2009 7:15 pm

Western Australia will press ahead with legislation to outlaw motorcycle gangs despite the South Australian Supreme Court effectively overturning that state's anti-bikie laws.

In the judgment handed down on Friday, the SA Supreme Court ruled control orders against eight Finks motorcycle club members were invalid.

SA was the first state or territory to introduce anti-bikie laws aimed at dismantling the outlaw motorcycle clubs.

NSW has enacted similar legislation and WA, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have announced moves to implement legislation that can see bikie gangs declared criminal organisations.

WA Attorney-General Christian Porter said on Friday he intended to proceed to legislate to declare outlaw motorcycle gangs, irrespective of the SA court's decision.

He said the court hearing was the main reason the legislation was yet to be introduced into the WA parliament.

"The central reason why we did not rush legislation into parliament in this sitting was because we were aware of this impending South Australia decision," Mr Porter said in a statement.

"We wanted to analyse the outcome to see how we could avoid difficulties with our own legislation."

WA Police Minister Rob Johnson said after a meeting of police ministers in Perth in June that WA would have the toughest anti-gang laws in Australia, drawing on a combination of the strongest sections of the NSW and SA legislation.

Shadow Attorney-General John Quigley said he was not surprised the laws were ruled unconstitutional by the South Australian Supreme Court.

He also accused Mr Porter of being "intellectually dishonest" when he would refer to the laws as bikie laws.

"No where in the legislation is the word bikie or outlaw motorcycle group (OMCG) mentioned," he said.

"These laws could have been used against many groups within the community and I'm not surprised the SA court has ruled them unconstitutional."

Mr Quigley said any group or persons - not just bikies - that were found guilty of promoting the breaking of a law could have received a jail term of at least five years.

"This could include an anti-nuclear group who for example promote a demonstration for sitting on the rail line to block the export of yellow cake," he said.

"The laws are not specific to bikies."

LNK

OZschwitz slave pen: WA to outlaw bikie gangs

OZschwitz slave pen: WA to outlaw bikie gangs

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

Via AnCaps: Law & Enforced Unnatural Order