Queensland is Cutting Bikers Some Slack and Scrapping its Anti-Bikie Laws

If you're in Queensland, that gentle revving sound you can hear right now could be a local motorcycle gang member cautiously kicking the old Harley Davidson into gear.

Yesterday the state's Palaszczuk Government announced plans to repeal the Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act (VLAD), which cracked down on the activities of bikies and other criminal groups. The announcement follows the release of an independent report by the Taskforce on Organised Crime Legislation which characterised the VLAD laws as "excessively harsh."

The VLAD legislation was introduced to Queensland in late 2013 by then-Premier Campbell Newman, as part of his self-declared "war" on bikie gangs.

The tough laws meant anyone associated with a bikie gang who committed a crime would receive a further 15 years mandatory imprisonment on top of the standard sentence imposed on an ordinary citizen for a particular crime.

On top of this 15 years across the board, bikies who held official positions in their organisation also faced an additional 10 years. Judges and magistrates were forced to impose extremely harsh penalties for relatively minor offences that might ordinarily only incur a three-month jail sentence. Mandatory sentencing applied even where the accused held no prior convictions.

Another controversial aspect of the VLAD Act was its anti-association provision, which made it illegal for three or more members of a bikie gang from appearing together in any public space.

As Rebels Motorcycle Club member and spokesperson for the United Motorcycle Council "Little" Mick Kosenko told the Sunshine Coast Daily last year, he and his wife were afraid to dine out in certain restaurants out of fear they would face arrest and jail time if a third member of their gang happened to walk onto the premises.

In 2013, the laws sparked mass protest by bikie gang members around the country. Despite their severity, the VLAD laws have only secured two convictions since they were brought in back in December 2013.

The Labor Palaszczuk government has said it will repeal the VLAD legislation and replace it with organised crime laws similar to those used in NSW. Under new "consortium" legislation, bikie gang members without convictions will be able to meet in public.

In a statement, Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath said the government is still considering the 60 recommendations made by the the organised crime taskforce, but will definitely move ahead with repealing and replacing the VLAD legislation.

She added the scrapping of VLAD was, in part, due to its high chance of upheaval in the event of a successful High Court challenge being launched against it by bikie gang members.

"The Taskforce report and that of the Commission of Inquiry make it clear that the existing laws are vulnerable to any legal challenge that is highly likely to come before the High Court," Mrs D'Ath said.

She reassured Queenslanders that "the current laws will remain in place until the new legislation is enforced, and we will do this in transitional arrangements with the Police."

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