Red tape in crime gang laws to let criminals get away with it?

Yesterday in Parliament I raised fears that Labor’s new “consorting laws” – to try to stop crime gang members from associating with each other – will be too bureaucratic to work properly. Here’s some of what I said:

“The New South Wales consorting provisions cover barely half a page of the statute book… we have a bill that goes on for page after page…

[Individuals] are prevented from associating …on three or more occasions in a 3-month period or on six or more occasions in a 12-month period… that will allow the local chapter of the mafia or the relevant bikie gang to have just about bi-monthly board meetings without infringing the provision…

…the comrades in the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) who also have serious convictions… simply need to make sure they get together down at the picket line to make it almost impossible for the police…

[There are] complicated provisions…for the content of unlawful association notices — followed by provisions as to when they take effect, for how long they last, how they are to be served, how they can be amended and how they can be revoked…

…[these requirements] are going to be very difficult for Victoria Police to apply in practice, and they therefore are going to undermine the effectiveness of what we all are hopefully seeking to achieve in tackling organised crime.”

For the full text of what I said, see the Hansard of my remarks from yesterday’s debate.