QUEENSLAND bikies will have nearly $180,000 in taxpayer money to
fight the state’s tough criminal motorcycle gang laws after a landmark
High Court decision.
The Bulletin has discovered the South Australian Government
has been ordered to pay the Mongols outlaw club $178,000 in legal costs
after losing a high-profile court battle four years ago to banish gangs
from its borders.Bikie sources said the money would be tipped straight into the bid to challenge the Vicious and Lawless Association Disestablishment laws pushed through by the Newman Government.
A senior bikie bearer told the Bulletin the legal bill represented only a small amount of money the government had “wasted” pursuing the club “unconstitutionally”.
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“Millions of dollars of taxpayer money has been spent, not just the $178,000 to cover our court costs,” he said.
Police swooped on a Bandido bikie who was simply having a coffee at Nerang on the weekend. Pic: Richard Gosling
Source: News Corp Australia
“All those years compiling the history and putting it together before the court cases in the Magistrate Court, the Supreme Court and ultimately the High Court, and for what?
“They ended up with nothing and the legislation was declared repugnant.”
He said the $178,000 would be used to cover legal bills, and any remainder would go into a “fighting fund” to challenge similar laws being used in Queensland and NSW.
“There is no value in (governments) pursuing this ... if a guy is breaking the law, they he will be caught and charged — you don’t need a special bikie law for that,” he said.
“The courts have been tougher on bikers than they have on anyone else — we know that, we expect it.”
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Nightclub players, bikies arrested in three days of raids on the Gold Coast.
High profile critic of the laws, criminal lawyer Bill Potts of Potts Lawyers, said focused policing would be a more effective use of taxpayer money.
“Costs follow the event and the loser, in this case the South Australian taxpayer, has to foot the bill,” Mr. Potts said.
“How much simpler if governments had worked out that tougher laws don’t make a difference but more focused policing is the best deterrent.”
Motorbike riders have been heavily targeted on the Gold Coast since the Broadbeach brawl last year. Pic: Richard Gosling
Source: News Corp Australia
In 2010, SA’s bikie gangs — including the Finks, who later became the Mongols, formed a united front to challenge the state’s anti-association laws in the High Court.
The High Court ruled the laws obliged the state’s courts to impose control orders on bikies at the request of the Attorney-General and police, without any evidence.