Right: cartoonist Peter Broelmen's view of biker clubs' protests againt the new laws.'
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Arguments against the new more severe laws to deal with bikie gangs
1. The nature and extent of bikie gangs' criminal activity has been exaggerated
It has been claimed that the criminal activity of bikie gangs has been overstated.
Criminologist and former Gold Coast detective, Terry Goldsworthy, has claimed that Queensland Police statistics suggest bikie crime on the Gold Coast is not as bad as the Queensland government has claimed. Terry Goldsworthy has stated, 'You've got a couple of high profile gangs who are doing most of the crime. I'd be surprised if there is much evidence at all that the Finks are at the peak of organised crime on the Gold Coast. They'd be low-level players doing a bit of (drug) supplying here or there.'
The statistics indicate that the Bandidos and the Finks are the two bikie gangs most heavily involved in crime in Queensland. The other 24 gangs named as criminal organisations under new Queensland laws have only had a handful of members charged in the 17 months to May 2013.
The Bandidos had 220 and the Finks had 175 members charged with offences. The Rebels, Lone Wolf and Nomads gangs rounded out the top five, each with about 65 members charged, while the Hells Angels had around 60. However, many of the other gangs, including the Red Devils and Comancheros, had no offences against their name, while only two bikie offenders belonged to the Odins Warriors and Gypsy Jokers.
Critics of the new laws claim that they represent a response built around an exaggerated view of the extent of crime among bikie groups. The statistics demonstrate that the large majority of these clubs and their members are law-abiding.
2. Recent anti-bikie laws have been hastily and inaccurately drafted
The Queensland Government's anti-bikie laws have been revealed as targeting a property that has not had any bikie connections for six years and a 'criminal organisation' that experts say does not exist in Australia.
A list of 'prescribed places' (sic) in the legislation includes an industrial shed in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, where a man linked to the Rebels motorcycle club once operated a car gearbox repair business. However, the property owner, neighbours and the new owner of the business have indicated that the man connected with the Rebels moved out at the end of 2007
The Queensland anti-bikie legislation also names the Scorpions motorcycle club as a banned 'criminal organisation'.
Experts on the operation criminal gangs and motorcycle clubs in Australia have claimed that while there is a Scorpions motorcycle club with several chapters in the United States, there is no trace of such an organisation ever having a presence in this country.
Mark Lauchs, Queensland University of Technology criminologist, has stated, 'We're not really sure who they are. Searches of all the Government documents and other things online has turned up references to a number of groups that they may be referring to, such as the Red Scorpions or the Scorpion Boys in Western Australia.
There's only one reference I can find to a group called the Scorpions and that was a group that was associating with another outlaw motorcycle group in Perth, but they certainly weren't called an outlaw motorcycle group themselves.'
There are also claims the Queensland Government is using the wrong 'colours' or club insignia for the Outcasts, Coffin Cheaters and Iron Horsemen, which appear on a crib sheet sent to all licensed premises in Queensland this week.
Critics of the legislation claim that such errors indicate how hastily and carelessly it was put together.
3. These new laws have the capacity to be applied to those other than members of criminal bikie gangs
It has been claimed that the new Queensland Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act 2013 (VLAD) is couched in language that is so general that it could be applied to a wide range of clubs and associations.
The laws focus on associations of people which include corporations, unincorporated associations, clubs or leagues or any other group of three or more people whether the group is legal or illegal.
Covering more than just 'bikie gangs' the laws define people as 'participants' in associations where they are a member, sought to be a member, attended more than one meeting or participated in any other way in the affairs of the association.
There is no mention of bikes or criminal activity in the definition of association. A participant is deemed to be a 'vicious lawless associate' when they commit a declared offence while they are participating in the association.
An accused individual must prove that the association does not exist for the purposes of engaging in declared criminal offences. A 'vicious lawless associate' is then sentenced to 15 years jail on top of the sentence they receive for the declared offence. If the person is an officer of the association and cannot prove otherwise they are liable to a further ten years.
Michael Hayworth, a spokesperson for Amnesty International Australia, has stated, 'The laws passed are aimed at cracking down on 'outlaw bikie gangs' but potentially affect a wider group of people, including those that aren't affiliated with bikie groups, something the Queensland government has failed to acknowledge.'
Brisbane barrister Anna Cappellano , has similarly claimed, 'The extensive mandatory detention powers in the VLAD Act are not limited in any way to alleged "criminal bikie gangs". You do not have to be a member or associate of one of the 26 motorcycle clubs that have now been declared as criminal organisations to be classed as a vicious lawless associate.'
The new laws' focus on gang membership has been seen as a threat to the freedoms of all Queenslanders and potentially all Australians. It has been argued that gang membership of itself cannot be regarded as a crime; it is how an individual behaves as a member of that gang which may be criminal.
Michael Cope, the president of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has stated, ' There is nothing criminal about being in a gang. The crime is the violence and intimidation which some gang members may engage in. Gang members who commit offences should be arrested, charged, tried and if convicted, punished.'
4. Some of the provisions of the new anti-bikie laws are a violation of basic human and legal rights
Some critics of the new Queensland legislation aimed at eradicating criminal bikie gangs have claimed these laws are a breach of basic human rights Australians take for granted.
Former New South Wales director of public prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, has stated, 'We enjoy the freedom of association, the freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of action in this country and to truly outlaw - because that's what the [Queensland] Government is doing - clubs and membership of clubs is, in my view, a step too far.'
Nicholas Cowdery has further stated, 'The mere fact of membership of an organisation of that kind should not have criminal consequences.' He has claimed that in the past the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Victoria had refrained from enacting tough bikie laws because they were inconsistent with human rights legislation. In particular, they were inconsistent with freedom of peaceful assembly laws.
Both the ACT and Victorian civil rights charters say everyone has the right to peaceful assembly and the right to association with others. The Victorian charter adds everyone has 'the right to form and join trade unions'.
It has also been claimed that the new Queensland anti-bikie laws are a violation of fundamental legal rights and processes. Amnesty International has expressed concern that Queensland's new bikie laws do away with the notion of an accused being innocent until proven guilty and that without this protection there could be arbitrary detentions and an undermining of the independence of the judiciary.
Michael Hayworth, a spokesperson for Amnesty International Australia has stated, 'The laws reverse the burden of proof, forcing those accused of being "vicious lawless associates" or "office bearers" of the association to prove that they are not participants in criminal associations.
This severely undermines the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty that all Queenslanders enjoy.'
Tony Fitzgerald, AC, QC and a former judge who presided over the Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption in the Queensland Government from 1987 to 1989, has stated, 'Although Parliament has power to enact almost any law which it chooses, parliamentarians who are elected to do what's best for the community don't have a "mandate" to give effect to prejudices and ill-informed opinions, ignore ethics and conventions or attack fundamental values such as personal freedom or essential institutions such as the judiciary.'
Critics have claimed that the new laws entrench guilt by association, making it an offence to belong to one of the designated motorbike gangs, irrespective of what an individual has done.
Don Trevethan, a 60-year-old father of four, supervisor for a construction company and Rebels Motorcycle Club Mackay chapter president, has claimed that under the proposed State Government laws all members of outlaw motorcycle clubs would be classed as criminals, whether they were involved in illegal activities or not.
Mr Trevethan has stated, 'Ninety per cent of the blokes causing this stuff probably don't even own bikes.'
5. These new anti-bikie laws will be prone to escalation
It has been claimed that the new powers given police and courts in Queensland to deal with criminal motorbike gangs are likely to be expanded and so pose even more civil liberty concerns.
Queensland Police Union president, Ian Leavers, has said that the government still needed to give police legal power to raid homes suspected of being bikie strongholds.
Mr Leavers has also indicated that he believes that the powers should be expanded to be readily applicable to other criminal groups within the community.
Mr Leavers has stated, 'What we have to remember is that bikies aren't the only criminal organisation on the Gold Coast...We need to tackle the whole industry of criminal organisations not just bikies.'
There have also been requests that police have access to more extreme weapons so that they are similarly armed to the bikie gangs that they have to confront.
Mr Leavers has further stated, 'The bikies have high calibre weapons at their disposal. We need to have the same firepower to protect ourselves and do our job and protect the community.'
Critics of the current legislation as excessive and an infringement of civil liberties are even more concerned that over time Australia will see police forces with vastly extended powers of arrest and that these officers will also have access to more extreme weaponry.
Critics believe that this is a scenario in which the likelihood of innocent civilians being hurt of wrongfully arrested will be dramatically increased.