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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-05-14 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

FINKS MOTORCYCLE CLUB

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (12:47): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: In December 2008, I received an application from the South Australian Commissioner of Police to declare the Finks Motorcycle Club under the Serious and Organised Crime (Control) Act 2008.

As required by the act, I published a notice and invited the public to make submissions about the application for a declaration of the Finks Motorcycle Club. I have also acted carefully to comply with the principles of procedural fairness required by common law. I have considered statutory declarations that outline the evidence and other information that police relied upon in making the application. Named in the application by the police commissioner are 48 persons.

To make a declaration I must be satisfied that a case has been made for an organisation to be declared under the act. I may make such a declaration if I am satisfied that members of the organisation associate for the purpose of organising, planning, facilitating, supporting or engaging in serious criminal activity and that the organisation represents a risk to public safety and order in this state. I must adjudicate on the balance of probabilities.

I have carefully considered the evidence put before me and have taken advice from the Solicitor-General. Although the rules of evidence do not apply to my considerations, I have used them as a yardstick to measure what weight may be given to the information provided to me.

Today I announce that I have declared the Finks Motorcycle Club under the act. I am satisfied that the requirements of the act have been fulfilled and that the Finks is an organisation whose members associate for the purpose of organising, planning, facilitating, supporting and engaging in serious criminal activity. The Finks Motorcycle Club is a risk to public safety and order in South Australia.

I have accepted that the police have presented sufficient reliable evidence and other information that the members of the Finks Motorcycle Club are involved in serious organised crime, that these members are immersed in criminal activity, including 173 convictions of drug offences, 263 property offences, many shootings, more than 160 violent offences, rape and sexual assault, 137 convictions for firearms and weapons offences, more than 40 counts of blackmail, and many counts of theft, including theft of highly sensitive material.

Although specific examples of some of these are criminal intelligence—and therefore I am not at liberty to share them with the house, because lives would be at risk if I did so—I can say that police have told me that proceeds obtained from blackmail are often referred to as donations, which are believed to be one of the principal sources of revenue for the organisation. It is believed that the proceeds are usually apportioned between the members committing the blackmail and the organisation itself. The organisation will receive a percentage of the profits, as the offenders use the name Finks MC in committing the blackmail.

Often, interest will be charged on a daily or weekly basis or, where there is little likelihood of payments being made, offenders demand property, including motor vehicles and business interests. I will not go into specific details here as some offences are so disturbing that I feel it is best not to mention them here out of respect for the victims. However, I have provided detail in the tabled documents.

Information that I have considered that is excluded from the tabled documents has been excluded because it is either evidence or information classified as criminal intelligence, or it has been removed on the grounds of public interest immunity.

Material classified as criminal intelligence is the description of material that relates to actual or suspected criminal activity, whether in this state or elsewhere, and is the subject of a criminal investigation, or intended investigation, that could reasonably be expected to be prejudiced if the information were disclosed. Or, it could reasonably be expected that to disclose it would enable the existence or identity of a confidential source of information relevant to law enforcement to be discovered; or it could reasonably be expected that to disclose it would endanger a person's life or physical safety.

I shall lay on the table today a summary of my reasons for making this decision, which runs to 52 pages. Although I have no obligation to provide reasons, I believe that it is appropriate to show that my decision has been made properly, that careful consideration of the detailed evidence and other information provided has occurred and that my decision has been made without bias. The declaration does not stand alone. The Serious and Organised Crime (Control) Act 2008 gives police authority to make applications in the Magistrates Court where appropriate for control orders and to issue public safety orders.

A magistrate can make control orders against members of a declared organisation, former members and others who engage in serious criminal activity. The order can restrict whom the defendant contacts, the premises he visits and the weapons he may possess. Within 14 days of the issue of a control order, a defendant can apply to the Supreme Court to have it varied or revoked.

Senior police officers can issue 72 hour public safety orders banning individuals or members of a group from going to a public place or event, on public safety grounds. A defendant can apply to the Magistrates Court to have the public safety order varied or revoked after an order has been in force for seven days. A defendant can also appeal against this decision to the Supreme Court.

The act also creates an offence of criminal association, an update to the more than century old anti-consorting laws; that is, that a person who associates on not fewer than six occasions during a period of 12 months with a person who is a member of a declared organisation or the subject of a control order would be guilty of an offence and subject to a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

It is now a matter for the Commissioner of Police if and when he applies for these orders. A retired judicial officer will be appointed before the end of this year to review the use of powers under the act. His or her report will be tabled in parliament, and I table the reasons for the declaration of the Finks Motorcycle Club.

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