AUSTRAILIA - Bikies unite and pool money to challenge anti-association laws

OFF THE WIRE
BIKIE groups will contribute to a fighting fund to challenge a Queensland police bid to criminalise the Finks motorcycle gxxg.United Motorcycle Council of Queensland spokesman Russell "Camel" Wattie said affiliated bikie groups would oppose the state's anti-association laws in the High Court, deeming the police action "doomed".
"The council has a fighting fund," he said.
"We put money into the Finks South Australia legal battle, we put money into the NSW one.
"These [Queensland] laws are exactly the same as the ones that were thrown out interstate."
Queensland police have warned of an escalation in bikie-gxxg activity and last Friday lodged an application in the Supreme Court to declare the Gold Coast chapter of the Finks a criminal organisation.
If a group is declared criminal under the untested laws, police can then apply for court-control orders over individuals.
Similar anti-association laws have been defeated in interstate challenges and there have been protests against pending laws in Western Australia.
Mr Wattie said the South Australian challenge cost $200,000 to beat and the NSW challenge cost $300,000. He said he expected a similar cost in Queensland.
He rejected police assertions of an escalation of recent events and highlighted the similar methods of recent drive-by shootings in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, suggesting that police were behind the attacks with the aim of incriminating bikies. "The clubs know it isn't from the clubs," Mr Wattie said.
In Queensland, the police court application has revealed the inner workings of the "outlaw" bikie gxxg, including an organisational and membership structure.
Finks club rules, as described by police, govern behaviour at meetings, sanctions for non-attendance at rallies, confidentiality, use of club tattoos, responsibilities of office bearers and provide that "all members must own and ride a British or American-manufactured motorcycle with a four-stroke engine".
"Within the organisation is a group . . . whose major function is the extortion of money by a system known as 'Finks fines'," the application said. It also outlines 95 pages of criminal histories from Finks gxxg members, and will include 140 affidavits.
Last night, Queensland's Labor opposition highlighted previous Liberal National Party opposition to the laws that police are using to lodge the application.
Premier Campbell Newman has said his government plans to be tough on bikies.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/bikies-unite-and-pool-money-to-challenge-anti-association-laws/story-e6frgczx-1226385359955