Page 1625 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020
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MR HANSON: How many more deaths need to occur before you will implement anti-consorting laws?
MR RAMSAY: I will not thank Mr Hanson for that sort of question. That is the sort of gutter politics and scaremongering that we expect from Mr Hanson when it comes to anti-consorting matters. No death or violence is acceptable in this jurisdiction. That is why we will make sure that we continue to work in evidence-based ways, in effective ways, and not in scaremongering ways.
We will continue to work with reforms, with resourcing of our policing and our DPP, both through legislative means and through additional financial and people resourcing, to make sure that the work they have been doing so effectively over the last couple of years will continue.
I draw again to the attention of the Assembly that the number of people involved in outlaw motorcycle gangs in the ACT has halved over the last 18 to 24 months. That is a demonstration of the effectiveness of the work of the police and the very strong work that has happened through legislative means. I draw to the attention of the Assembly the response today from both the Law Society and the Bar Association. The Law Society has said that the ACT’s—
Mr Hanson: Their members represent bikies, Gordon.
MR RAMSAY: I invite Mr Hanson to say that more clearly on the record: he is accusing the legal profession of protecting bikies. That is an outrageous slur on our legal profession.
Mr Hanson: Madam Speaker, on a point of order, that is not what I said. I made the point that some members of those organisations represent bikies. That is not to say they are protecting them. The attorney should withdraw that comment and perhaps apologise.
MADAM SPEAKER: There is no need, and there is no need for interjections as well. You are a serial interjector, Mr Hanson, so perhaps if you kept quiet you would not find yourself in strife.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, given that similar laws operate under Queensland and Victorian Labor governments, why won’t this government recognise that this is sound policy that has bipartisan support?
MR RAMSAY: Because it does not have bipartisan support. It does not have tripartisan support in this place, and I am sure we will discover that again later on today. We will work with the evidence. I note that there are anti-consorting laws in other jurisdictions, as there also is outlaw motorcycle gang violence in those other jurisdictions. We will work in ways that will reduce the impact of violence. We will make sure that the evidence that we base ourselves on is evidence about effectiveness.
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