Page 798 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 March 2019
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the people he thinks he is targeting think that these laws will make no difference. They are saying, “We don’t give a damn.” That is the very point of my observation.
His comments about the effectiveness of anti-consorting laws have been backed by academics, including Bond University criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy. Professor Goldsworthy said that anti-consorting had become “political window-dressing” that actually led to lazy policing policy. He has noted that in Queensland more than 1,000 notices had been issued in relation to anti-consorting laws, yet only three people had been charged. He went on to say:
Whenever the bikies play up its good to out and we’ve issued 1,000 consorting notices, but … what does that actually mean? How is that restricting criminal enterprise? How is that restricting those engaged in serious organised crime? You really never get an answer to that.
That is the question we are asking today. Mr Hanson is asking us to support these laws when there is clear evidence that they do not have the impact he is claiming they will have. The Greens believe that the recent measures taken by the government are the right sort of policy options for effective targeting of OMCG-related activity. These were developed in consultation with ACT Policing and in response to specific incidents where police identified gaps in their ability to investigate and disrupt OMCG activity.
Last year, the Assembly passed the Crimes (Police Powers and Firearms Offence) Amendment Bill 2017. That legislation creates a new offence to capture drive-by shootings. This new offence will better target situations where a person shoots at a building, including homes and businesses. Previously, it had been difficult to prove an offence where shootings were aimed at empty buildings.
This new offence will capture OMCG activity where drive-by shootings are often done to intimidate or terrorise members of rival gangs. This bill has also given police new powers to secure a crime scene. This will enable police to enter a crime scene to secure evidence and to prevent any evidence from being destroyed or removed from a scene.
The government has also introduced a fortification removal scheme in the ACT, similar to those in operation in other jurisdictions in Australia. Across Australia, including in the territory, law enforcement authorities have come across numerous examples of outlaw motorcycle gangs and other criminal groups using fortifications to prevent police from entering a premise, including when the police had obtained a search warrant.
This measure was introduced in response to a specific incident when ACT Policing identified an OMCG clubhouse that was fortified with heavy steel doors preventing access to the clubhouse using traditional methods of forced entry. It is now also an offence to fortify premises where a person knows that the premises are connected to a fortification offence and intends that the fortification will prevent the uninvited entry to the premises or part of the premises.
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