OFF THE WIRE
MOVES to declare the Gold Coast chapter of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang a
criminal organisation are doomed to fail, according to Queensland's top bikie
spokesman.
Russell "Camel" Wattie, spokesman for the United Motorcycle
Council of Queensland, represents more than a dozen "outlaw" clubs and said the
Finks would already be following the lead of their interstate brothers in South
Australia in trying to have the new police powers overturned in the
courts.
Moves similar to Queensland's new plans to declare the Finks a
criminal organisation have been tried in SA and NSW, but lawyers representing
the gangs have had the laws overturned in the High Court.
"I have not
been in contact with anyone from the Finks in the past few days, but they will
challenge these laws," he said.
"They (the Finks) have done it before (in
South Australia) and they will do it again here."
The NSW challenge came
from the Hells Angels after that state declared the notorious gang a criminal
enterprise.
Mr Wattie said the Queensland laws would follow the same
pattern.
"These changes to the laws are fundamentally no different to the
ones we saw in other states which were overturned," he said. "In NSW, every
aspect of the Act was repugnant to the High Court.
"What these laws would
do is ensure that within a generation every Australian would be a criminal or
sit at home and watch TV for fear of being arrested. It's
unconstitutional."
He said publicity surrounding a wave of bikie-related
violence was wide of the mark.
"There have been several drive-by
shootings of bikie haunts on the Gold Coast and it is always said that the
shooting is by rival gang members, but they never find the people responsible
and the bikies themselves know it's not the work of other gangs," Mr Wattie
said.
"The publicity is creating a war that doesn't exist."
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/bid-to-ban-gangs-is-doomed-in-court/story-e6frea6u-1226381966621
