By ISAAC SERRATO
Staff Writer
Australia has had enough outlaw motorcycle clubs, 1%ers. After constant brawls, street fights, and shootings. With a high-profile shooting of a former boss of the Rebels MC getting shot in the head by a sniper in a public square with his 9-year-old daughter with children around in December 2020. Australia passed new laws, making a police strike force, giving them new powers, and gear, with vehicles to chase the “bikies” (bikers are called bikies in Australia). Police in the early 2010s were now able to pull them over for any reason and commit raids on clubhouses, with other powers. Down the road, Australia continued to turn up the heat on the outlaw’s clubs, major outlaw or 1%er biker clubs being scrutinized are Hells Angels, Iron Horsemen, Bandidos, Mongols, Rebels, Finks, along with other smaller or local outlaw clubs.
Recently the government passed the harshest law yet targeting bikies. The “Unlawful Consorting and Prohibited Insignia” bill was passed on Christmas Eve 2021, taking effect in 2022. The law bans bikies from meeting up with each other, prohibiting showing off club colors. Even club flags, patches, and even tattoos were banned. Many bikies had to cover up tattoos or had to get them removed, with clubhouses having to cover up their logos on their clubhouses, taking down flags on their clubhouses too. Those who have violated the law will be facing a year in jail with a fine of up to $8,864. Police Commissioner Colonel Blanch joked that to cover up face tattoos they have to use “makeup or foundation” or not live in Western Australia.
This law has raised concerns as in 2016 New South Wales Ombudsman reported that in the state’s anti-consorting law, the scope was changed from fighting organized crime to all criminal offenses, with many people wondering if these laws will soon go overboard as they would target clothing or other tattoos that are not gang-related. If they could ban flags, patches, and tattoos what else would they ban?
Another matter was that outlaws, 1% er clubs classified as gangs by the police, committed few crimes, others were arrested rarely. In Queensland from 2008-2014, 1% of murders, and 0.01% of robberies were done by bikies. In the ACT, 2000-2019, 0.4% of drug offenses, and 0.3% of unlawful firearm possession were committed by outlaw bikies. A report from the Australian Institute of Criminology reported that the prosecution for outlaw bikers is high. Queensland has a failed prosecution for bikies of 23%, and ACT was 27%. The government in Queensland admitted that in 2008-2014 outlaw bikies made up 0.17% of all offenses. In 2019, of all reported offenses in the ACT from the 2000s-2019 only 0.06% of offenders were outlaws bikies. In fact, operation IronSide a major police investigation into organized crime found that out of 44 outlaw clubs only Comancheros MC and Lone Wolves MC got a specific mention in the investigation. In fact, bikies were found to be a threat when small members of outlaw clubs conspire with other criminals. A 2018 study found that individuals in the club acted as a freelancer with other criminals for common criminal purposes.
Operation Ironside actually found the real threats, the Mafia, Asain with Eastern European crime groups. With Mexican drug cartels being discovered moving meth into Australia.