Bikie Laws

[SHAUNY]

After reading the topic about matty johns it opened my eyes to alot of different opinions I hadn't even considered, I suppose Im just looking for what your opinions and views on the new bikie laws that have been put in place are.

I'm only 19 and would see the world differently to someone older than me but I don't like these new bikie laws at all, Im afraid that they will eventually mean I have less rights.

It doesn't sit right with me that my government can target me because of who I associate with, this isn't Nazi Germany and our government isn't Hitler.

After all isn't the government meant to be working for the people not working the people

[our06t]

I don't think the laws are a great thing , but they didn't leave the goverment much choice ,they had a good thing going police etc were prepered to let certain things slide and let them do their thing , Unfortunatley they took their issue's to the streets and forced the police / gov to do something about it.

I know a couple of guy's from one of the clubs ,they are just your average guy's who are in it for the bikes and mateship

But it seems these type of old school bikies have lost control of the clubs and the new generation do seem to run the clubs like more of a criminal organisation than a club ,

[Slymeat]

These laws are a step on the right direction lets face it if you are part of a criminal organisation then you deserve to be hounded out of existance. OMCG stands for outlaw motorcycle gang ( outside the law ) these groups should be banned entirely. These gooses where never allowed to do there own thing but they hid behind inefectual laws and used peoples fear of the so called nazi state to hide behind, when it is these type of groups who would like to form there own nazi state given the chance, they thrive on fear and intimidation to exist allways have and allways will. The motor cycle enthusisest groups are not targeted by these laws nor would they be targeted by the police.

[Ace]

I dont personally have a problem with bikies (some of the nicest blokes I know are bikies) like footballers there are some that just ruin it for the rest of them and give all gangs a bad name. I think the laws are a step in the right direction as it will save alot of innocent people from getting caught up in the mess

[ZAP]

These laws SUCK.

It is another typical knee jerk reaction to a problem that has been around for 50 years.

As usual the media have taken some incidents and painted the whole bikie community with the same brush, just like they have done with Hoons, footballers and bankers.

This is a very scary article from todays smh.com.au:

THE Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, QC, has condemned the Government's new bikie laws as "very troubling legislation" that could lead to a police state and represent "another giant leap backwards for human rights and the separation of powers - in short, the rule of law".

Mr Cowdery's warning comes after a second wave of anti-bikie laws passed through Parliament this week, this time providing for penalties of up to five years' jail for members of a proscribed gang who "recruited" members.

Last month the Premier, Nathan Rees, insisted the first set of laws be rushed through Parliament after the death at Sydney Airport of Anthony Zervas during a bikie brawl. Those laws allow the Police Commissioner to move in the Supreme Court to proscribe criminal gangs and jail members who associate with each other.

But the laws are yet to be used and the Government will not say when they might be.

In a paper published on his website, Mr Cowdery says: "There may be a need for better enforcement [rather] than for legal powers."

He warns that the law "does not apply only to bikie gangs but 'to any particular organisation' in respect of which the Police Commissioner chooses to make an application.

"Where will the line be drawn?" he asks.

"These words cast a very wide net … Why should the responsibility for identifying which organisations warrant being declared under the act be vested in the Police Commissioner, an unelected official?

"The spectre of a police state lurks here: an unacceptable slide from the separation of powers by linking the powers of the Police Commissioner with those of 'eligible' judges."

Mr Cowdery says the fact the Attorney-General has the power to declare which "eligible" Supreme Court judge could hear an application to proscribe a gang meant an attorney-general could have "unfettered power to 'stack' the hearing of applications for declarations of organisations under the act with judges willing to enforce it".

The Attorney-General could also "revoke or qualify the authority of a judge to determine applications for declarations if he or she does not perform to the Government's satisfaction'.

He says that while this may not be the intention of the present Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, "a provision so drafted left on the statute books is extremely dangerous and potentially open to serious misuse".

Mr Cowdery writes: "It matters not that the motives of the urgers or policy makers may be honourable … we all need constantly to be alert to the erosion of rights and be proactive in preventing it … This is especially a time for vigilance in NSW. Someone once described it as the price of liberty."

When Mr Rees rushed through the laws, he said it was "proportionate response to an escalation in violence [involving] outlaw motorcycle gangs". He said bikie gangs had "crossed the line" with the Sydney Airport brawl in March and subsequent shootings on "public streets".

The laws received initial internal opposition from Mr Hatzistergos.

Last year, the the fiercely independent Mr Cowdery described the Iemma government as as "ruthless" and guilty of "grubby" tactics and said Mr Hatzistergos was a "micro-manager" who had lost sight of the "bigger picture".

Recently, the Government legislated to give a future DPP a 10-year-term in the job, rather than open-ended tenure.

Mr Cowdery was unavailable for comment yesterday.

[hypnodoc]

"The spectre of a police state lurks here: an unacceptable slide from the separation of powers by linking the powers of the Police Commissioner with those of 'eligible' judges."

Its no longer lurking, it, the country already is a police state. At least they, the police, are the ones who have to contend with enforcing the draconism. Its a bit of a worry when what constitiutes an illegal association is at the discretion of any Police Commissioner

[Iconic Bionic]

Some governements ban terrorist organisations so why not the bikies and there criminal enterprising, especially the new ones that dont ride bikes, just like the stigma. Besides we already have similar laws, such as consorting. These ones you just never hear about.

I.B.

[sickd]

why does a 19 year old care about these rules who cares.

are you apart of a bikie gang AT 19?

Edited 17/05/09 11:30 AM by sickd

[RegSpec]

I don't think the laws are a great thing , but they didn't leave the goverment much choice ,they had a good thing going police etc were prepered to let certain things slide and let them do their thing , Unfortunatley they took their issue's to the streets and forced the police / gov to do something about it.

I know a couple of guy's from one of the clubs ,they are just your average guy's who are in it for the bikes and mateship

But it seems these type of old school bikies have lost control of the clubs and the new generation do seem to run the clubs like more of a criminal organisation than a club ,

Pretty much got it in a nutshell.......the Government hasn't really been given much choice in this.

The results of the combination of Middle Eastern organised crime gangs and bikie groups have been well documented in recent times.....

What if it was "your" missus and kids at the airport waiting to meet someone on the plane.......and instead they get caught up in a brawl and see a bikie smashing in another guys head with a steel pole......right in the middle of the passenger terminal......

It's about time somebody got out the big stick with these d*ckheads.....

These laws are a step on the right direction lets face it if you are part of a criminal organisation then you deserve to be hounded out of existance. OMCG stands for outlaw motorcycle gang ( outside the law ) these groups should be banned entirely. These gooses where never allowed to do there own thing but they hid behind inefectual laws and used peoples fear of the so called nazi state to hide behind, when it is these type of groups who would like to form there own nazi state given the chance, they thrive on fear and intimidation to exist allways have and allways will. The motor cycle enthusisest groups are not targeted by these laws nor would they be targeted by the police.

why does a 19 year old care about these rules who cares.

are you apart of a bikie gang AT 19?

Clear winner of the "2 dumbest questions in one post award" for this month.......

[SHAUNY]

why does a 19 year old care about these rules who cares.

are you apart of a bikie gang AT 19?

No im not part of a bikie gang,

What age do you suggest I start taking notice and caring about my rights?

Also the brawl at the Sydney airport, I think the government played a bigger hand in that then they let on.... leading up to these laws there was a hype in the media about bikie activity increasing and becoming more braisent and then the brawl happend which pushed it even further, one thing that doesn't add up is why in a fairly security conscious enviroment such as an airport that it took 15 minutes for any federal police to arrive.....if an indian guy had of dropped his suitcase accidentally and kept walking he'd be in jail with the paper work filled out in 15 mins.

The same week all the bikies came together and put there disputes aside in protest through adelaide along with anybody who wanted to join them, wouldn't that brawl defeat the purpose of protesting.