Page 4766 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 1 November 2017
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That has to change and change now—these are not the signals we want to send to lawless individuals. This is not a problem the Barr government can leave in the “too hard” basket any longer”.
Of all the commentators we should be listening to, the most senior is our Chief Police Officer. She is on the record as saying:
I think the key benefit of anti-consorting laws, noting that’s not the only solution, is that it’s a preventative tool … It’s about dismantling, disrupting and preventing rather than responding.
When she was the assistant commissioner, she agreed that Canberra’s lack of anti-consorting laws had made Canberra a haven for bikies. On the ABC on 6 March she said:
I believe that’s a factor in the decision to come here and undertake their activities.
Unfortunately, the Chief Police Officer is also on the record as saying that, while she would like to see anti-consorting laws in the ACT, it is now “off the table”. I and the Canberra Liberals team are here to put it back on the table. We have what we believe to be the best anti-gang legislation in the country to do it.
The legislation I am tabling today has gone through a long, thorough and detailed development process. An exposure draft was developed and placed on the legislation register on 31 July this year. The formal consultation period extended until the end of September, and we continued to receive submissions and have discussions until 27 October.
Feedback and submissions were received from many groups and stakeholders, including the Bar Association, the ACT Law Society, the Human Rights Commissioner, the Victims of Crime Commissioner, the Public Advocate and Children and Young People Commissioner, the Discrimination, Health Services and Disability and Community Services Commissioner, from the Canberra Liberals’ have your say website, on which we got a lot of responses, and also from conversations with victims who I have met and who are the victims of these horrific crimes in our suburbs. The bill as presented to the Assembly includes amendments made as a result of those consultations, particularly addressing human rights compatibility issues.
The bill seeks to introduce a criminal organisation control regime, adapted for use in the ACT, to prevent, disrupt and deter the operations of organised criminal organisations. Although the organisations that are most active at the time of tabling include those self-identified as outlaw motorcycle gangs, the legislation is aimed at any organised criminal organisation. As Mr Gentleman, the police minister, would know, this is not about motorbikes; this is about criminal organisations.
The exposure draft was modelled on the existing New South Wales legislation, as one of the key policy objectives is to remove the effect that the territory is seen as, and has become, a “safe haven” for organised criminal gangs within New South Wales.
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