Queensland crime laws avoid “fatal flaws”
A former NSW DPP has put in his two bob's worth about the state's new organised crime laws, but also suggests there may be a bumpy road aheadAccording to a report in The Courier Mail newspaper, a former top prosecutor believes Queensland’s new organised crime laws avoid the "fatal flaws" that have seen similar legislation from NSW and South Australia defeated in the High Court.
But Nicholas Cowdery, who was the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions until 2011, said the typical Australian bikie's drug and violence offences were rarely part of a gang-wide enterprise.
"You might be able to argue that clubs like the Hells Angels are involved in a more organised way in crime, particularly in drug importation and distribution and manufacture in Australia," Cowdery was quoted as saying in The Courier Mail. "But the vast majority of motorcycle gangs are not organised to that degree and so by and large, I think we are over-reacting to a limited threat of organised criminal conduct for which our existing laws are perfectly adequate.
“And as a matter of principle, there is serious interference with freedom of association, freedom of expression, the right to work, family relationships.
“So people are penalised, potentially criminally, not for what they've done but for who they associate with.
According to reports, the Finks Motorcycle Club is preparing High Court challenge against Queensland's Criminal Organisation Act was imminent, with a war chest from other clubs helping to fight the cause – following on from a similar esprit de corps in the New South Wales and South Australian challenges.
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