AMC: let's get back to business

The Australian Motorcycle Council (AMC) has moved to put motorcycle safety and transport policy back in the spotlight after months of general media focus on so-called "anti-bikie" laws.

Speaking after the AMC's annual conference in Brisbane, where delegates discussed the issue of anti-bikie laws in NSW and SA, AMC Chairman Shaun Lennard announced the AMC's position.

"Certainly any reasonable action to target organised crime is supported by us as it would be by virtually every member of the community, but we are opposed also to any bad laws," Mr Lennard said.

"We believe that these two lots of legislation are simply bad law.

"This isn't just our view - legal groups and civil libiterians have also voiced strong opposition to these laws, which are counter to established criminal law principles and infringe on human rights," he continued.

"We're not only talking Australian law, these laws are potentially contrary to Articles 9 & 11 of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Mr Lennard said it appeared that governments in other states were waiting on the outcome of a legal challenge to the South Australian laws in the SA Supreme Court before they decided whether to implement similar laws.

Meanwhile, both Tasmania and the ACT have declared they will not introduce this sort of legislation.

Mr Lennard also pointed out the recent arrests of motorcycle gang members in NSW had been under existing laws, not anti-bikie laws.

"There has been nationwide coverage of arrests in Sydney in the months since the new laws were introduced in NSW, but these arrests have been under existing law, which provides all the power authorities need.

"Changes to the Crimes Act in 2007 also gave enforcement agencies the power to act against organised crime organisations in any case, so these laws are not only bad; they're unnecessary."

Mr Lennard said the AMC was very concerned that general media hysteria generated since an alleged bikie-related murder at Sydney Airport in March had resulted in many bike riders being dubbed outlaws, as had stereotypically been the case decades ago.

"There are members of the federal parliament who wear black motorcycle jackets, dark glasses and open-faced crash helmets and ride Harley-Davidsons," he said.

"If you saw them riding down the street people might think 'There goes a member of a motorcycle gang' and be quite wrong."

"We've heard reports of 'ordinary' motorcycle riders being refused admittance to restaurants, for example."

Mr Lennard stressed that the AMC was in no way supporting illegal activities, but was defending people's right to be a member of any motorcycle club."

"Being a member of an outlaw club does not make someone a criminal and neither should it -- although under these laws it could!"

Mr Lennard said while the laws were dubbed "anti-bikie", they in fact could affect any organisation that happened to have among its members anyone convicted of a criminal offence.

Of greater concern to the AMC is that other key issues affecting motorcycling had been overshadowed.

"This has clouded a whole range of motorcycling issues over the last two or three months," Mr Lennard said.

He said there was too little regard for the safety of motorcyclists in infrastructure development.

"What we're looking at for the future is taking into account the risks to motorcycle riders as a road-user group into the planning of infrastructure," he said.

"When there's discussion about sustainable transport and congestion in cities, there's talk about public transport, about encouraging more people to take up cycling and catering better for pedestrians.  But there's rarely any mention about the place of scooters and motorcycles."