From the FREE Australia Party Bikie Law Battle…don’t kid yourself

So, the bikies are being put back in their place and the world is safer for it. We can all now sleep safe in our beds and that intimidating menace will be taken care of.

A procession of state governments has been trying to bring in controversial laws to supposedly keep the public safe for years now. The Queensland government has succeeded where the South Australian and New South Wales governments have previously failed.

New South Wales has now had another crack after rushing it through. They have also removed the right to silence. In New South Wales they are also making merry with their consorting laws.

The media focus in Victoria is fascinating, every day another story of raids, guns and drugs that may or may not have links to people who may or may not be members of, associates of or saw someone once who was in a motorcycle club.

In South Australia they are having another tilt at their laws. Police in that state are about embark upon another Supreme Court action in an attempt to have the Finks MC declared a criminal organisation. This apparently will be followed by further applications to have the Hells Angels MC and the Rebels MC outlawed.

The governments have successfully conned the general public into believing they need these laws to make our country safer. The media have helped this cause with sensationalist reporting and skewing of facts and the public has bought into it giving up freedoms with barely a whimper.

This legislation, no matter which state it has come from, is based on anti-terrorism laws and allows the use of secret evidence. An eligible judge, can declare a motorcycle club a criminal organisation if satisfied with evidence that the police present in their application. The problem is much of that evidence is likely to be confidential criminal intelligence.  

The term “confidential criminal intelligence” should send a shudder down your spine. This “intelligence” is not to be shared with your legal team. They will not know what it is and how to mount a defence against it. How can we allow that to happen in a supposedly free and democratic country.

Right, you have read this far and are thinking…”so what, it is about the bikies and I am not a bikie”. None of this legislation mentions bikies. It does not mention biker. It does not mention motorcyclist.

It is not now, nor has it ever been, about the bikies. They are just the bogey man that is helping to sell this legislation.

If you think this is about bikies you are kidding yourself.

There are criminals in motorcycle clubs. The same as there are criminals in Lifesaving clubs, Rotary clubs, Bridge Clubs, Scout Troops and Church groups.

There is no argument from anyone in this statement. The argument however is that not all members of lifesaving clubs, rotary clubs or even motorcycle clubs are criminals.

The government is trying to declare people to be criminals because of what they wear and who they hang out with. They are trying to declare someone to be a criminal even if they have never carried out a criminal act and do not have a criminal record. Potentially having a beer on a Friday night with your mates while you watch the footy on TV will make you a criminal and could cost you up to five years in gaol.

So far this battle has been between the various state governments and the clubs that are directly involved. The clubs have support from around the country through the United Motorcycle Councils but they are up against a potential open cheque book of taxpayer funded legal teams.

The clubs are also up against a compliant media. The reporting on this is pretty much one sided. You will find the odd article speaking to the human rights and civil liberties side of the story. Every now and then there will be something against this legislation from a Law Society but, the overwhelming coverage of this debate is in favour of the police and state governments.

As was stated by a former South Australian Attorney-General, this is a social experiment. If these laws are successfully put into place and motorcycle clubs are banned throughout the country do you really think that will be the end of the laws?

Are you really that naïve?

First they came for the Jews…and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew,

Then they came for the communists…and I did not speak out because I was not a communist,

Then they came for the trade unionists…and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist,

Then they came for me…and there was no one left to speak out for me…

Pastor Martin Niemoller, Berlin, 1939

Ride Safe….and FREE while you still can…Mork

 i think clubs need to put therr differences aside , unite be seen together have more fund raisers etc gget into the public eye to be seen doing good and try mend what the media and govournment has destroyed.just my two bobs.:

Far be it for me to tell anyone what they should have done, but I think it would have been a good idea to open up the clubs to a wider demographic by encouraging more clubs (non 1%) to spring up. The US seems to have a shit load of clubs under the "biker" banner and it works and they are more powerful for it.

I think if this sort of shit is going to continue with the new gang (the blue one) the clubs need to get smarter, start the ride from a different place, or have several seperate rides in one, basically make the clown brigade earn their little one-up points. If splinter groups go off in different directions it will make it harder for the idiots to control our rides. This can be done with the many social clubs leading each splinter. Lets run rings around em.

One thing that is of concern is the blatant disregard that the highway patrol nazis showed. Merging into a bunch of bikes and expecting them to stop in a very short distance and allow them in would get anyone of us booked for such stupid, dangerous and reckless behaviour. Also when pulling up a rider they would park their vehicle half on half off the road and then open their car doors into the traffic, we saw several bikes having to take evasive action just to avoid the doors.

This was in no way a police action we saw on the weekend this was a gang forcing their hand!

 Are we going (as a large lobby) to do anything that has been suggested or are we just going to pay it a bit of lip service in passing and hope that someone else will fix it all up for us.

I think both Burnzi and Bonkerz have put forward reasonable ideas for ways to go about putting a spanner in the works of the blue gang, Burnzis is a direct action plan and can have an immediate impact on stretching the resources of the blue gang but it has to be constant you have plan as many rides as you can and stagger them over a predetermined time frame because your going to have riders leaving from different palces and going to different places, like Burnzi said if you can get the different social riders groups together to plan their different rides to their different places at the same time it would cause the blue gang major logistical problems and thats a good thing.

And I think Bonkerz idea deserves serious consideration, it would take a fair bit longer to put into action but the end results in winning the favour of the general public would go a long way into debunking the spurious load of shit that is issuing from the mouths of these scare mongering masters and toadies.

I for one would be a party to both of these ideas, but one thing is most certain we must do something or risk losing that which we all love, to ride our bikes and to live the life that we love.  

 

 

 

 

So social crews under a bigger banner!

this is so right burnzi
ya gotta stand up for your rights and this is meant for anyone in a club/forum /riding together/being social/just haggn out ohhhhh so wrong in many ways

My biggest gripe with this,

Every time I think abut going for a ride now I stop and think about who might be there, is it run by a 1% club etc etc.
I worry about being pulled over simply because I ride a Harley, its not paranoia its a fact from my experience, I ride an old 62 Trumpy Chop, A 07 Bonneville cafe style beast and a 2006 Lowrider. I have been pulled over three times in the last three years and each and every time I was on the Harley, despite putting more Klm's up on the Bonnie during this time.

I like the freedom of riding and always have but this sh#@ is wearing thin, I shouldn't feel victimised by authorities in this country, but I do.

Its a sorry state we are in.

Ride Safe
Nigel

The point people are missing is the rozzers can go to a judge with "secret evidence" to obtain an order.

No one knows what that evidence is, whether its factual or fictional. How it was or wasn't obtained legally or illegally. You starting to see the point that only one side gets to put their case to the judge whom has to make a descision. Goes against hundreds of years of law. Why? So no one can test the evidence before judgement. Why? Because the law enforcers are not intelligent enough or just plain lazy to do their job within the laws. Won't be the first time they make up lies either.

I dont believe they can do that just yet Clubbie, this is what the anti-association laws are all about, and why they need to be stopped.

That certainly is one of the major concerns all folk should be aware of clubbie. The recent decision by the High Court regarding the Qld Finks was all about the use of 'secret evidence'. Unfortunately for us all they have judged that it is not unconstitutional to use it. That case is now set down to start in Oct in Brisbane. The SA Police announced only days ago they expect to have finalised the paperwork on their declaration application within weeks, again against the Finks, followed by 2 other Clubs. NSW authorities have said they expect an application against the HA anytime soon. It seems a national coordination of applications is the tactic to stretch the resources of the targets. Many of these attacks just happen to fall into the final 12 months of an electoral cycle, conveniently. Even if the final Court case doesnt go the Govt's way it certainly muzzles public criticism while subjudice...handy leading in to a tight election ! This whole topic is set to become a battle of finances, that is obvious, the authorities have swung a policy into place similar to tax office investigations..... draw the process out as long, as widespread, and as expensive as possible...and win by attrition, financial attrition. The Clubs and the UMC's have run many poker runs and sold t-shirts etc to raise funds as this tactic was predicted. The will to keep it going is certainly there, and the contribution to protest rides and those fundraising efforts by many of the Military and Social Clubs has been massive. Unfortunately this battle will be won or lost in the Courts now, the public have generally been well and truly fooled into believing these Laws are only for 1%ers, most dont bother reading them to see the words Bikie, Biker, Motorcycle Club are not mentioned. Sporadic outbursts of misbehaviour keep getting overexposed in a compliant media to perpetuate the need for 'special' legal treatment of Bikers, even though every criminal event is well and truly covered by pages and pages of legislation already ! The bottom line is, I feel, is that Tough Law and Order Agendas help secure votes....Create a fear, Offer a solution, Be rewarded with Votes....... not a new tactic but generally an efficient one. Buckle in, this fight is gunna go grey before it goes away......

Burnzi it IS HAPPENING right now in SA. No if's or but's just FACT. Secret evidence is being prepared (and probably tendered) as we speak.

GG-74 your post is spot on mate (as well as other posts on this subject). Thanks for giving people the heads up.

Just remember the anti-association laws apply to EVERYBODY not just 1%ers. That part seems to get lost on the general public. We don't have a constitution per se but we do have laws that were set in precedent(s) that do allow you to associate with whoever you wish. So that goes down the gurgler.

What people also don't know is this law will CRIMINALISE anyone's association even if no crime has been committed.

There are no checks and balances for "seceret evidence", that's just corruption/lies/political gain waiting to happen.

Oh yeah and we can lose the right to "innocence" until prove guilty, or actually "beyond reasonable doubt".