Outlaw bikies in WA will be banned from publicly displaying club patches and forced to cover gang tattoos — even if the ink is on their face.
Attorney-General John Quigley said proposed laws unveiled on Wednesday would disrupt the lifestyle of bikies and make WA “the most inhospitable jurisdiction in Australia” for outlaw motorcycle gangs.
The legislation would give WA Police the power to arrest anyone displaying a bikie insignia in public.
The new crime carries a penalty of 12 months jail and a fine of $12,000 for individuals. Gangs which have patches on public display at clubhouses would be hit with a $60,000 fine by the courts.
Mr Quigley said bikies with gang tattoos that could not be hidden with clothing would either need to have them removed or covered with “make-up”.
That includes Hells Angels sergeant-at-arms Dayne Brajkovich, who has HAMC — short for Hells Angels Motorcycle Club — tattooed on the bridge of his nose.
This tattoo, even though it is an abbreviation, would become illegal as soon as the legislation passes Parliament, expected by late next month.
Brajkovich, who assaulted Rebels boss Nick Martin in the weeks before his assassination and later had his Ascot home targeted in a drive-by shooting, also has “1%er” tattooed on his throat.
The laws specifically bans the “1%” or “1%er” symbol in public, which is said to refer to bikies not following the rules of the 99 per cent.
“If they have any tattoo that is against this law, they’ve got two choices — cover the tattoo or be arrested,” Mr Quigley said.
“People who have got facial markings that are against the law can either have them removed by a tattoo removalist or they can obscure them by cream or make-up. How they go about complying with the law is not my problem.”
In an unusual move, the Unlawful Consorting and Prohibited Insignia Bill names 44 bikie gangs and two street gangs as “identified organisations”.
Most of the gangs aren’t based in WA, but were included anyway to stop so-called “patching over” by rival clubs to circumvent the ban.
Those active in WA include the Hells Angels, Rebels, Bandidos, Gypsy Joker, Coffin Cheaters, Club Deroes, God’s Garbage and Mongols. Mr Quigley said the aim was to disrupt the criminal operations of bikies, whom he described as the local distribution arm of international drug syndicates.
“This is not going to be the end of the bikie gangs,” he said.
“This is a powerful legislative tool that we’re providing to the police to disrupt them.”
Troy Mercanti, one of WA’s most notorious bikie figures, has “Mongols nation” tattoos on his forearms, covering old tattoos of his former gang the Coffin Cheaters. Mercanti will soon need to have the tattoos removed or wear long-sleeve shirts if he wants to avoid falling foul of the hardline prohibition laws.
However, extremist groups are not covered by the legislation and there’s no ban on public displaying the Nazi swastika. In Queensland, Mongols bikies have tried to get around a similar ban by wearing Las Vegas Raiders NFL gear.
If a bikie gang were to adopt US football or basketball-branded clothing in WA to signify their affiliation, prosecutors will still be able to argue they are in breach of the ban.
The legislation allows media companies to continue to publish images and vision of bikie insignia as part of news reporting.
Mr Quigley was confident the laws could be successfully defended against a legal challenge funded with bikie drug money. Anti-consorting laws, which stalled in Parliament a year ago, will finally be reintroduced as part of the reform.
This gives police the power to issue an “unlawful consorting notice” to anyone convicted of an indictable offence — including bikies, paedophiles and drug traffickers — that orders them not to communicate with other criminals. To stop bikie gangs bringing their national runs to WA, police officers will be given the power to issue a seven-day “dispersal notice”.
Police will only need to have a “reasonable suspicion” that groups are bikie members to quickly break-up gatherings.
Breaching the notice carries a 12-month prison penalty and $12,000 fine.
It’s the first in a package of tough-on-crime legislation to be unveiled in coming months after long consultation with WA Police top brass.
“We are determined to make WA a safe place, without the fear of bikies pursuing their own vendettas at the expense of citizens,” Police Minister Paul Papalia said. “These laws, combined with other measures, will give police the powers ... to not only disrupt the illegal activities of gangs, but work to eliminate bikie networks in WA.”
https://thewest.com.au/politics/law-and ... 882036868z
