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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-11-20 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

MOTORCYCLE GANGS

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:04): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The government has today announced the next phase of comprehensive laws designed to disrupt and dismantle criminal bikie gangs. These are the toughest anti-outlaw bikie gang laws that we can find anywhere in the world where these gangs operate. I understand that they are not big in China and some other countries, including India, but certainly they proliferate all around the world.

These new laws will be backed by almost $14 million in new funding to give our criminal justice system the resources it needs to take on the bikies. The extra money will be spent on providing SA police with 17 extra non-uniformed staff, including legal specialists, forensic accountants, specialist criminal intelligence support and high level analytical staff to track the activities of the bikie gangs.

It is all about following the money tree. They will bolster the work already being done by the newly formed Crime Gang Task Force which the government announced in August would receive an additional 24 uniformed officers, bringing the total number of police dealing directly with bikie gangs to around 45. There will also be extra funds allocated to the Office of the DPP and the Crown Solicitor's Office, resulting in a total of about 15 extra legal and administrative staff. There will also be extra money for the Legal Services Commission.

This next phase of legislation is designed as the most sophisticated attack on criminal bikie gangs ever attempted by any jurisdiction, not just in Australia but anywhere in the world. We have taken a series of measures over the past 5½ years. Now we are ramping it up significantly with comprehensive legislation across the board backed by more resources, more funding, more police, more resources for the DPP, and more resources for the police in terms of legal, forensic and specialists skills. This government has every intention of chopping off the tentacles of these criminal networks and then going through to the very centre of their operations. Among the new laws in the first phase of this legislation:

The Attorney-General can declare a criminal bikie gang an outlaw organisation.

Police will be able to seek control orders from a magistrate prohibiting members of declared organisations and others who engage in serious criminal activity from associating or communicating with one another and attending premises such as gang clubrooms.

Police will be able to prohibit members of a bikie gang from attending a place, event or area where this would pose a serious threat to the public.

The old law of consorting will be replaced with a new law of criminal association that prohibits telephone calls as well as meetings in the flesh.

Stalking a person with the intention of intimidating a victim, witness, court official, police officer or public servant will become a serious offence.

Gang members who engage in acts of violence that threaten and intimidate the public will be guilty of serious offences.

Gang members charged with some of these new offences will find it much more difficult to get bail and it will be easier for police to secure orders to dismantle fortifications protecting gang clubrooms.

Cabinet has also given the Attorney-General permission to draft legislation that will target the profits of bikie gang crimes by:

allowing the DPP or police to apply to the court to have serious repeat drug offenders declared drug traffickers (as such, they will forfeit all of their assets, not just those that are clearly linked to their criminal activities); and

forcing bikie gang members to explain the source of their unexplained wealth without having to prove first that the individual has been involved in a crime. (The onus will be on the individual to prove that the asset was acquired legitimately: what they cannot prove they will lose.)

These new laws send a clear message to the criminal bikie gang members and their offsiders. We are coming after them, and we will hit them where it hurts by taking away their criminally acquired gains, their Harley-Davidsons and their liberty.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I would like to think that this is the most advanced, toughest and comprehensive legislation in the history of Australia—the toughest legislation anywhere in the world—and I challenge members opposite to let us know whether or not they will support the legislation. I will wait to hear the people on the other side who did not want von Einem to be DNA tested, and that is the difference.

Breaches of control orders or public safety orders could result in up to five years' imprisonment, and breaches of orders preventing criminal association would have a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment. In addition, the new offence of violent disorder will carry a maximum penalty of two years' gaol; riot will carry a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment for an aggravated offence and seven years for a basic offence.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: So do you know what the current penalty is?

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: She does not know the current penalty. That is because there isn't one! It is a new offence. Affray will carry a maximum penalty of five years for an aggravated offence and three years for a basic offence; and stalking of public officials by outlaw bikie gang members will carry a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment.

This legislation—these laws—have been the result of submissions to the cabinet by the Police Commissioner and the Assistant Police Commissioner. In fact, Police Commissioner Mal Hyde and Assistant Police Commissioner Tony Harrison briefed cabinet for nearly an hour on Monday.

A huge amount of work has been done on this matter, because we have seen that the bikie gangs hire the top lawyers in the state to try to defeat the will of this parliament. There is no doubt that they will try all their tricks in the future and there will be challenges—as there were against our anti-fortification laws. We won that in the court, but the point is that we are going much further.

I pay tribute to SAPOL for its lead role in developing this new legislation. The Police Commissioner and the Assistant Police Commissioner briefed cabinet yesterday about the new legislation. SAPOL has been very helpful and clear about what laws it needs to take up the fight against bikie gangs and onto the next level; and we have responded with this package of measures.

I am informed that the police are already ahead of the game in preparing for the new laws when they are expected to pass parliament in the first half of next year. This is giving the police the laws they want, the laws they need, the resources they want and the resources they need.

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