OFF THE WIRE
THE BBC documentary starring the Gold Coast chapter of the Finks outlaw
motorcycle gang airs tonight on SBS.
`Australia with Simon Reeve' will be
shown tonight at 8.30pm on SBS One as the Finks open their Molendinar clubhouse
for the BBC's cameras.
The award-winning journalist and television
presenter said the gang was ``very welcoming''.
``The police in Australia
say they're involved in drug production, drug smuggling, murder, arson and
anarchy in most forms,'' Mr Reeve said.
``They were willing to meet us,
partly because they like BBC documentaries, I kid you not, and partly because
they want to put over their side of the story, and explain that it's their
members not them as a gang."
He described the Finks as ``hulky, tattooed
blokes with biceps the size of my waist''.
``They were very welcoming,
but very intimidating and quite exotically alien in a way that I have rarely
experienced on my travels.
``It was right up there with meeting Mr Big
Beard in a market in Mogadishu, and it was happening in an industrial estate
outside Brisbane - just completely surreal.''
Local tourism and business
leaders have criticised the production which depicted the Gold Coast as a
'gangster's paradise'.
Gold Coast Tourism chairman Paul Donovan described
the BBC documentary as 'a beat-up'.
``Everyone wants to bash the Gold
Coast because they're jealous of the great lifestyle we've got here. Every place
in the world has (crime) issues, we can't deny that. But the Gold Coast is the
most fantastic place to live and holiday,'' Mr Donovan said.
The UK
tourism market is worth $2.5 billion nationally and each year about 55,000
visitors from the country visit the Gold Coast.
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2013/08/07/456004_gold-coast-news.html
