Patch me if you can

Only 27 bikies give back badge under new gang laws

ONLY 27 bikies in Queensland have handed back their patches since Labor brought in its new organised crime laws.

The State Opposition will today reveal data arguing the Government was being soft on bikies as tensions began to surface between gangs on the Coast.

Under the LNP’s Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment laws, 434 bikies left their gangs in three years. Comparing the rate of dissociation, Labor could expect to remove about 139 members.

Opposition police spokesman Tim Mander, who will visit the Coast today, said the first seven months of Labor’s crime crackdown had been a failure.

“Labor has rolled out the red carpet to criminal gangs and organised crime is starting to flourish again on the Gold Coast,” he said.

Rather than surrendering their patches, bikies were “proudly stating they aren’t concerned about the laws in any way, shape or form”, he said.

The new crime data follows revelations in Estimates hearings that only one conviction had occurred under the Government’s anti-consorting laws.

Police had previously complained to the Bulletin about the difficulty in arresting bikies under the consorting laws.

In September last year, senior police officers warned that detectives would need to get evidence to prevent bikie members without a criminal history from meeting together. This could involve obtaining a warrant from a court.

Commissioner Ian Stewart, at the time, said he believed “the proposed legislative package is the strongest in the country”.

Mr Mander said the Government had used Estimates to boast about the laws but as always “the devil was in the detail” with Commissioner Stewart confirming how difficult the legalisation was to enforce.

“We have seen several media reports of bikie gangs expanding their operations on the Gold Coast as patched members start to flex their muscle once again in an on-going turf war,” Mr Mander said.

“The LNP introduced Australia’s most comprehensive criminal gang laws that gave police the tools they needed to make Queensland safer.

“The results of our laws were the gangs disbanded, crime reduced and Queensland was a safer place to live, work and raise a family.”