Page 3130 - Week 08 - Thursday, 16 August 2018
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It seems that when you put legislation forward, the government will then change the goalposts. We will hear from the government. It will say, “No single piece of legislation is going to fix this.” I do not believe it will. There is no silver bullet. But it is very much the case—it is also shown by the evidence—that without this legislation and because there is no consistency between us and New South Wales, we have created an oasis. The absence of this law is what has led to the massive increase in violence and bikie activity in the ACT.
As the Australian Federal Police Association said:
It is the last part of the suite of resources we need to battle outlaw motorcycle gangs.
I have been going on like a broken record. We are an island in New South Wales. We have become a safe place to operate. As the police association said:
For goodness sake, bring these laws in.
That is the police association pleading with the government. I say it again: we have become a safe place to operate. As the association says, “For goodness sake, bring these laws in.” That is a plea on behalf of the members of the Australian Federal Police Association—ACT Policing. Members opposite are ignoring the pleas of that member association.
It is disgraceful. There is a lot of hyperbole; there is a lot of rhetoric in this place. But let me be very clear. You have the Australian Federal Police Association, on behalf of its members, pleading. You have the Chief Police Officer herself saying this:
If there’s something that keeps me awake at night, it’s gangs in Canberra in the sense of their serious organised criminal activity and their violent activity they undertake here … We’ve seen an incident where shots have been fired into a residence at Ngunnawal. That residence was the previous home of a Comanchero member, but it’s not anymore. It’s a family home for a completely innocent family … Over recent weeks my concern has only grown because unfortunately we now have evidence to suggest that the Finks motorcycle gang is establishing itself here in Canberra which would increase our criminal gangs from three to four and would obviously increase the presence of gangs in the ACT … I’ve said consistently and I’ll continue to say—
This is the Chief Police Officer—
that police need preventative powers to ensure that we can prevent the sort of crime I’ve just referred to, occurring—
What she means by that is the same sorts of laws that are in New South Wales: anti-consorting laws. We do need laws that are about prevention to keep our community safe. The Australian Federal Police Association is saying it and the Chief Police Officer is saying it. We will do what we can from this side to stop that from happening. You have not heard the last from us.
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