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.
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