Police fear tough new laws designed to stop bikies and serious organised criminals from consorting with each other will be watered down due to the state’s human rights charter, despite a promise to use them to clean up the building industry.
Premier Jacinta Allan insists they will be introduced within weeks, but years of delays have prompted fears from law enforcement agencies that the new powers will remain hard to enforce as the government is unable to unduly restrict an individual’s rights to freedom of association.
Premier Jacinta Allan with Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton.Credit: Jason South
One particular area that had proved difficult for the government was clarifying how far the legislation can go in defining the threshold for an “intimate relationship”, and how distant the connection between two people can be before it is met.
The promised bikie crackdown was again thrown into the spotlight last month when an investigation by this masthead, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes revealed bikies and organised criminals had infiltrated the CFMEU’s construction division.
In the wake of the scandal, Allan said the state government remained committed to bringing stronger anti-bikie laws to the parliament in August after years of complaints from Victoria Police.
With one parliamentary sitting week left in August, police sources, not authorised to speak publicly, said they feared the legislation could be further delayed or watered down once the bill entered parliament.
On Friday, a government spokesperson recommitted to that time frame and said the new laws would “make it much easier for Victoria Police to issue anti-association orders”.
Several senior government sources, speaking to The Age on the condition of anonymity to discuss draft legislation, said that while the long-awaited changes had proved difficult to navigate, there had been a significant amount of work done.
They said the draft bill was close, but altering the thresholds to make it easier for police to issue anti-association orders for people suspected or accused of involvement in criminal activity had been complex.
“What we did in 2016 wasn’t strong enough, but the work has come a long way to fix that, and the CFMEU scandal inadvertently helped to bring this issue back,” one source said.
While the government is committed to the tough new laws, Victoria’s specific human rights legislation sets out 20 fundamental human rights, including the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of association and the right to take part in public life.
Other states including NSW and Queensland have tougher consorting laws aimed at cracking down on organised crime. Victoria Police has repeatedly complained that its officers have been unable to use current anti-association powers, introduced in 2016, prompting a review.
Shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien said the current anti-association laws had been as “useful as a waterproof teabag” in the eight years they have been on the statute books.
“They have failed to assist Victoria Police in stopping the growth of outlaw motorcycle gangs, which have now infiltrated government worksites and the CFMEU,” O’Brien said.
One solution available to the government would be to use an override provision effectively allowing the new laws to overrule Victoria’s Human Rights Charter. But one source said the government’s preference was to tighten the threshold and better clarify permitted associations – such as with family members or in the provision of a health service.
Monash University associate professor Julie Debeljak, who specialises in human rights law, said that while the charter would make it harder for the government, it could insert an exceptional circumstances threshold to overcome any challenge in the court.
She said it was proof the charter was “not strong enough”.
Debeljak said by introducing the beefed-up legislation, the government ran the risk of potentially restricting someone’s rights like the ability to worship by stopping them going to church, leaving it up to the court to interpret if the state had a “reasonable and justifiable exception”.
As part of the bikie crackdown, the state government is also planning to ban the wearing of gang colours, patches and insignia and symbols in public by outlaw motorcycle gangs.
“These are complex laws, and we are working closely with Victoria Police and other stakeholders,” a government spokesperson said.
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