OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
Things are getting bad for bikers in the Australian state of
Queensland. A self-confidant idealist named Jarrod Bleijie has
apparently somehow assumed the power to reverse the last eight hundred
years of English Common Law.
English nobles forced King John to sign The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, frequently called the Magna Carta Libertatum,
in 1215. The English Parliament enacted a formal Bill of Rights in
1689. Those documents are widely regarded as the foundations of
democracy amongst the English Speaking Peoples.
Bleijie is the Queensland Attorney-General and Minister for Justice
who is currently leading the fight to stamp out motorcycle clubs by any
means imaginable.
Queensland is the Australian state that comprises the northeast
portion of the continent. There are six Australian states. Queensland
has an area about two and a half times as large as Texas.
No Bail For Bikies
At a news conference Saturday, Bleijie announced that he would
introduce legislation tomorrow that would deny members, or alleged
members, of motorcycle clubs bail. “We’re going to have a presumption
against bail for criminal motorcycle gangs,” Bleijie said. “Our view is
simple. These criminal motorcycle gangs should be in jail and not get
bail…That’s the clear position of the government and that’s the position
we’ll take to the Parliament next week….We believe that the best thing
we can do for the Queensland community is to have these people off our
streets.”
Bleijie will propose that bikers be imprisoned for any offense
including traffic violations. “Any crime alleged to have been committed
by these individuals will be picked up under this new regime,” he said.
Terry O’Gorman, President of the Australian Council of Civil
Liberties, called the new laws “Show politics… It is the sort of
extremism that we’ve been complaining about as he drip feeds this suite
of laws in which he has refused to consult anyone but the police and
other attorneys-general.”
Biker Prison
Bleijie also wants to open a special prison just for bikers. The new
prison will be established within the confines of an Australian supermax
called the Woodford Correctional Centre.
All bikers would be locked down 23 hours a day and denied access to
recreational areas. Bikers would be denied access to television and
would undergo frequent drug tests.
All contacts with lawyers at the new prison would be monitored by
prison guards and all outside contacts would be limited to one hour per
week.
“They will do hard time and I make no apologies for that,” Bleijie said.
Crushing Bikes
Another of the new laws would mandate that motorcycles belonging to
club members will be crushed. “I’ve announced today that we are going to
be crushing the bikes. Just as we are going to be crushing the criminal
motorcycle gang enterprises; we are going to crush the bikes,” Bleijie
said.
The new laws will also forbid club members from wearing club
insignia, to assemble or to own businesses. Bleijie said, “we want to
break the morale of these establishments.”
The new laws will allow police to arrest anyone police say is a “gang
member” or “gang associate,” bring them before a secret tribunal and
force them to testify to police satisfaction. Victims who do not testify
would be guilty of contempt and be sent to the special biker prison.