Solitary charge under bikie law
JUST one bikie has been charged with consorting under Labor’s anti-bikie laws.
Queensland Courts data released by Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath showed there had been 17 convictions for the carrying or wearing of outlaw motorcycle gang colours offence, 17 convictions for aggravation for fraud and one conviction for the consorting.
A police source said up to 10 Coast gang members were meeting at cafes in Broadbeach and Isle of Capri but sidestepped being arrested because they had not been wearing colours.
Another police source said Coast bikies were riding across the NSW border and meeting at service stations where they quickly donned their colours.
“They either meet at someone’s shed on the Coast or go over the border to stop at a pub together,” the police source said.
The first reported bikies charged with consorting were four Rebel gang members at Mount Isa in late June after they were seen meeting in pubs and travelling together.
The lone bikie convicted of consorting had been picked up after a warrant for another offence enabled detectives to use a phone tap, a police source said.
In July, Police Minister Mark Ryan said bikies fleeing the Coast showed the State’s tough laws were working.
“They are not wearing their patches anymore because of the strongest, toughest, most comprehensive anti-bikie legislation in the nation,” Mr Ryan said.
A spokesman for the Minister this week said the laws had been critical in limiting organised crime activity in Queensland and effectively disrupted the ability of organised crime gangs to meet, establish or expand.
Police had issued more than 900 pre-emptive and retrospective Consorting Warning Notices to recognised offenders across the state, they said.
But police insiders said the “pathetic” laws were making it impossible for officers to prove criminal intent.
“The only way to pick them up is to monitor their conversations to determine the intent of them,” they said.
“You can’t do that without a warrant.”
Shadow Attorney-General David Janetzki said Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had wanted more convictions, but more gangs were being established, more members recruited and more drugs being peddled to children.
“Labor’s unworkable laws are proving difficult for police to enforce and continue to put community safety at risk,” he said.
“The fact there has been only one consorting conviction and 800 warnings is proof of that.
“How can the police do their jobs and protect the community with softer laws and cuts to local frontline services?”