AUSTRALIA - Gillard's anti-(*club*) laws off agenda: Smith

OFF THE WIRE
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has been accused of dragging her feet on national anti-(*club*) laws after organised crime was dropped from a meeting of the nation's top law officers.
NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith says the federal government suddenly removed the agenda item from the meeting of state, territory and commonwealth attorneys-general in Darwin on Thursday.
"The Gillard government has been making a lot of noise about this issue, but when it comes to outlining their plans at the appropriate forum, they are not forthcoming because they have no clear plan," he said in a statement.
Mr Smith called on his federal counterpart Mark Dreyfus to reinstate the organised crime issue in talks at Thursday's Standing Council on Law and Justice, which meets twice a year.
"If the commonwealth was really serious about tackling the issue of organised crime it would have taken today's meeting of all the state's attorneys-general to start detailing their plans," he said in a statement.
Ms Gillard last month announced a plan to bolster organised crime fighting with federal anti-(*club*) and asset seizure laws.
The planned laws would give courts the power to declare a bikie gxxg or similar group is a criminal organisation and impose control orders on designated members.
"We were pleased when the prime minister finally announced that the commonwealth was ready to work together in the fight against criminal organisations, including bikie gxxgs," Mr Smith said.
"But to date the only details we have are from a media release."
Mr Smith repeated the NSW government's claims that the key problem is illegal firearms and getting them off the streets.
"The greatest threat remains the shortfalls in custom controls and border protection measures which allow illegal guns into the country," he added.

http://tinyurl.com/c32jgbo