Josh Robertson
theaustralian.com.au
A QUEENSLAND pub has barred members of the Finks after the bikies arrived en
masse for a counter meal and a drink on a quiet night without hotel security,
telling staff they had found their "new home".
The Arundel Tavern
on the Gold Coast hosted the group of just under 20 bikies, who were not wearing
club colours, without incident on October 11 but has since shown the door to
smaller groups of Finks who had been repeatedly testing the new regulations, a
spokesman said.The tavern, acting on the recommendations of police and liquor licensing authorities, now refuses entry to patrons with tattoos or clothing "deemed offensive or related to (Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs)".
A tavern spokesman said the Finks - who this week continue their High Court challenge of laws police have used to try to have them declared a criminal organisation - had "brought it on themselves".
"We've done enough properties to have them cause dramas, so we're not just going in green . . . it's a matter of past experience in taverns that we've been managing," he said.
"Whether they want publicity or not, 90 per cent of it's correct.
"The public aren't stupid, they read about what they do, so they don't feel safe."
Finks members have racked up 175 years in jail sentences since 1996, getting involved in a string of public shootings and serious assaults.
Some of the coast's nightspots have recently announced their own bans on patrons suspected of being bikies.
A police source said the Finks had already been kicked out of other suburban Gold Coast venues, including the Pacific Pines Tavern.
The Arundel Tavern spokesman said while older Finks "behave and want to be left alone", younger members who are "proving themselves" don't care whether they cause dramas.
"All we're trying to achieve is to maintain a safe environment for our patrons and our staff," he said.
"Basically, it's our prerogative, as far as we're concerned. And police backed that and licensing backed that."
Criminal lawyer Bill Potts, who acts for the Finks, said pubs were free to choose their patrons but "profiling on the basis of prejudice rather than proven bad behaviour" was a disturbing trend.
He said some venues did so urged by police and licensing authorities who were "trying to drive (bikies) away from, I suspect, one of their limited means of enjoying themselves".
"If you get a whole crowd of people in colours threatening people, well I can understand that," he said.
"If you've got a couple of blokes having a quiet beer, who may have the wrong tattoos or the wrong hairstyle, I start to think there's a culture of prejudice rather than a proper exercise of licensing laws."