On the 10th of October, over 700 members of the Victorian police along with Federal Police and Customs officers conducted raids on around 60 properties associated with the Hells Angels. Then in an extraordinary move the around a dozen uniformed Australian Defence Force Personal personal were involved with police in a raid on a property in Cranbourne in South East Melbourne on the 12th of October. The whole militarized policing operation has either been hailed by the media or presented in an unquestioning fashion. These raids occur in the context of ever more draconian “anti-Bikie” laws being introduced which along with “anti-terrorism” laws see the architecture of a police state being constructed in Australia.
The raids were justified by Victorian police on the grounds that they were searching for an M1 carbine and an AK-47,military-style weapons suspected of being used in recent shootings by the Hells Angels. The raids did not yield these weapons but small amounts of guns, ammunition, drugs and cash were seized and 13 people arrested, including one prominent member of the Hells Angels. The joint raid with the uniformed members of the ADF personal and Victorian Police on the October 12th was justified on the grounds that an army truck and crane was needed to move a prime mover that was alleged to be stolen.
The raids were reported breathlessly across the establishment press on both radio, TV and newsprint. The Murdoch press lead the charge with its Melbourne paper, the Herald Sun. An Editorial published on October 10th entitled “Victorian bikies meet their match” stated
“This is exactly what Victorians want to hear after drive-by shootings by bikies who have no regard for the rule of law. The police are faced with what can be fairly described as urban terrorism. An AK-47 assault rifle, the same weapon used by the Taliban to kill Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, is believed to have been used in a shooting at Dandenong last week.”
This ludicrous equation betwen the Hells Angels, terrorism and the Taliban is not used accidently. In the same way that the threat of terrorism under the “War on Terrorism” has been used to overturn established democratic norms, the supposed threat posed by “Bikies” has been used for a number of years in Australia to create highly undemocratic laws that trample on freedom of association and allow for the effective banning of organizations.
In 2012, in Victoria the Criminal Organisations Control Act was passed with allows the Police Chief Commissioner to apply to the Supreme Court order a group become a ''declared organisation'' on the basis the group has or is currently organising, facilitating or supporting criminal activity. A declared organization can then be banned from operating and its members individual members can be banned from even associating with each other. The Victorian Laws follow on from the introduction of similar anti-democratic laws in other states such as NSW and South Australia over the last few years. In March 2013, the High Court of Australia ruled that such anti-association laws that allow for the banning of organizations are legal and consistent with the Australian Constitution when it ruled in favour of the Queensland Government in a challenge to the 2009 Criminal Organisations Act. The law allows for organizations to be banned on the basis of evidence delivered by police who can remain anonymous, in closed court sessions in which the accused are not allowed to see or attend. These laws could clearly be used to ban other organizations deemed to be a threat to the establishment including political organizations of the working class.
The raids in Victoria also occurred almost simultaneously with raids in Queensland against Bikie clubs. The conservative led Queensland Government is promising even more draconian legislation supposed aimed at “Bikies”. Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie announced the proposed laws would reverse the presumption of innocence in the case of motorcycle gang members charged with a crime and they would have to justify why they should be granted bail. Under the terrorism laws introduced Federally in 2002, the normal presumption in favour of bail has also been reversed for those charged with offence related to terrorism. These proposed laws further this erosion of this previously fundamental democratic right. A meeting was held between the Attorney Generals of the Federal and State Governments on Friday 11th of October to discuss introducing even more draconian laws against Motor Cycle “gangs”.
These escalation of the crackdown on Motor Cycle gangs in terms of police tactics and legislation is occurring in the context of the breakdown in global capitalism that has occurred since 2008 and the crisis of legitimacy facing both major parties. The powers of the state are being strengthened in preparation for the eruption of major social and political struggles that are coming in Australia. The crackdown also serves as a “law and order” distraction for the working class to avert its attention from the ever worsening of the state of Australian economy and the ongoing and looming imposition of savage austerity measures by State and Federal Governments. T
Related articles
World Socialist Website: Australia: Queensland government legislates draconian “anti-bikie” laws
Australian High Court approves “criminal organisation” laws http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/29/crim-m29.html