news.ninemsn.com.au
Laws to declare bikie gangs criminal organisations and impose tougher penalties on members will be introduced in the West Australian parliament in coming weeks, the state's attorney-general says.
Christian Porter says bikies are trouble "for every man, woman and child in Western Australia" because of their involvement in the drug trade and the gang wars they engage in.
His comments come as WA Police brace for a possible resurgence of gang warfare in Perth following the release from jail on Tuesday of former Coffin Cheater turned Finks bikie Troy Mercanti.
His defection in 2008 sparked a feud between the two outlaw motorcycle gangs who have since engaged in violent clashes, including a brawl at the Kwinana Motorplex last October in which a Finks member lost three fingers.
After being picked up by a stretch limousine from Casuarina Prison on Tuesday, Mercanti took a flight to Adelaide where the Finks have a strong presence.
Mr Porter on Wednesday said he hoped to have tough new anti-bikie laws introduced into parliament at its next sitting in coming weeks.
He said a High Court ruling last month disallowing similar legislation proposed in NSW had prompted a reshaping of the proposed WA laws which he believed would be "constitutionally permissible".
But Mr Porter does not expect the passage of the legislation to be smooth."It's controversial legislation that a body can be declared a criminal organisation," he told ABC Radio.
"There is a very strong case to be made ... that the basic reason why clubs like the Coffin Cheaters and the Finks exist is to provide a forum where their members can engage in criminal activity."
Mr Porter said such activity included drug trading, methylamphetamine manufacture, use of firearms and violent standover tactics which often spilled over into gang warfare.
"It's this legislation which will allow law enforcement to make real inroads into the activities of bikie gangs in a way we really haven't been able to doso to date."
Mr Porter said the first mechanism under the proposed laws was to have a court determine and declare that a group was a criminal organisation, and the test for that would be a high one.
He said the second part of the legislation involved anti-association orders to stop members meeting, and higher penalties for members found to have engaged in criminal activity.
Last month's High Court ruling struck out NSW legislation which would have allowed police to apply to a court to have members of bikie gangs prohibited from consorting with each other.
The court's rejection of the legislation was based on issues of procedural fairness and the preservation of traditional rules of evidence.
Last week, NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said he would write to Prime Minister Julia Gillard backing police calls for national legislation to "stamp out" the outlaw bikie gangs.
