abc.net.au
Attorney General Robert Clark is proposing new laws to crack down on bikie gangs and their ability to operate in Victoria.
The legislation is currently being drafted, but is expected to be signed-off by the Coalition Government in the near future.Mr Clark says the laws will allow the Supreme Court to criminalise individual gangs on the basis of their threat to public safety.
"One of the restrictions that the court will be able to impose [is] if it finds that a bikie gang is being used for serious criminal activities, is to restrict the activities of its members, including banning the wearing of insignia, club logos and the like," he said.
"One of the ways these gangs gain their strength is through operating out in the open through using logos, insignia, intimidation."
Last year, the High Court declared part of the anti-bikie gang legislation introduced by the New South Wales and South Australian Governments to be unconstitutional.
But Mr Clark says Victoria's laws will not be vulnerable to the same challenges.
"The model we're following in Victoria is different to the model that's being followed in South Australia and New South Wales," he said.
"Our law will operate by an application to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court will decide, on the evidence before it, whether or not an organisation represents a serious threat to public safety and is being used for serious criminal activity and on that basis an order is made by the Supreme Court."
