A Return to the Moonlight State? (The era of political and Police corruption under Joh Bjelke-Petersen) Queensland has introduced tough new anti-bikie laws. Kate Galloway, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law at James Cook University, sees a number of problems with the new legislation. The shame of this is that Queensland seems to have learned nothing from the ground-breaking Fitzgerald Inquiry. Queenslanders must demand that the government uphold civil liberties. Government must suspend its populist rhetoric and take a considered approach to fundamental principles of good governance and the rule of law. Otherwise I fear that Queensland will return to the days of the Moonlight State. Queensland has introduced tough new anti-bikie laws. Kate Galloway, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law at James Cook University, sees a number of problems with the new legislation. Motorcycle enthusiasts have been caught up in this hysteria, and the Police Commissioner has apologised ‘for any inconvenience’. Members of public have, however, been reassured that they have nothing to fear if they have done nothing wrong. This comment perhaps represents the most frightening development of all. There are a number of fundamental problems with these legislative changes. Premier Newman has himself acknowledged that criticism of the changes is ‘legally and philosophically correct’. First, the laws attack freedom of association. Rather than criminalising an act, they criminalise mere association with another person or organisation even if the person has done nothing wrong. So the reassurance of government – not to fear if we have ‘done nothing wrong’ – is hollow indeed. There is a fundamental human right of free association and this has been overturned. Second is the assumption of criminality of gangs, overturning the presumption of innocence. The government rhetoric is of ‘these criminal gangs’. However criminality under our system of governance and law is determined by charge, trial and a finding of guilt. Our system is already structured to determine criminality, yet the government presumes criminality of both gangs and individual members and uses this to justify the imposition of its new laws and the winding back of civil liberties. Third is the winding back of judicial power. The separation of powers is a central tenet of the Westminster system – and of liberal systems of governance generally. While not embodied within Queensland’s constitution (as it is in the Commonwealth Constitution) it is generally honoured in practice. It means balancing the power of the state through separating powers to make and enforce laws. The idea behind it is that having one institution/person enact a law and also determine its application without the chance for independent review, vests too much power in that one institution/person. Finally, it is concerning to note the layers of punishment to be ‘unapologetically’ meted out to bikies. Mere association, to choice of clothing and tattoos, to self-incrimination, mandatory sentencing, solitary confinement and a desire to ‘embarrass’ inmates all amount to a compounding of punishment. Prisons are designed as punishment, and despite popular misconceptions of prisons as somehow ‘easy’, having one’s liberty taken away is punishment in itself (regardless of access to television and visitors). Punishing those sent to prison in addition to their lawfully imposed sentence breaches foundational principles of criminal law.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 21:30:55 +0000
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