Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang members from throughout the country will converge on the ACT this weekend for a meeting of the state and territory chapters, with police aware of the event and making preparations.
Around 200 Rebels members are expected in Canberra for their so-called "national run", where they have booked an undisclosed location for their meeting.
Interstate chapter bosses for two of Australia's biggest bikie gangs, the Hells Angels and the Comancheros, last year used Canberra as their covert meeting location but this weekend's gathering is expected to be the largest - and potentially the most public - seen in the ACT for years.
The Rebels' mass meeting has again raised the issue of consorting laws, which have been enacted in other states but not in the ACT.
Consorting laws have effectively suppressed such large gatherings of outlaw motorcycle gang members elsewhere, leaving the ACT as a so-called "safe haven".
The ACT Liberals have repeatedly drawn attention to this legal anomaly, given that the territory is landlocked and surrounded by NSW with very different laws.
Despite former ACT attorney-general Simon Corbell generally supporting a fresh look at consorting laws in the wake of a 2016 Justice and Community Safety directorate discussion paper on the issue, the Greens-Labor government has consistently rebuffed the Liberals' moves - firstly in 2018 and again in 2020 - to introduce legislation.
In its submission to the 2016 discussion, the ACT Motorcycle Riders Association said that "spurious or frequent issue of consorting warnings, even if successfully challenged, may also lead to reputational damage to motorcycling in general, building or reinforcing negative stereotypes".
Outgoing Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan says he doesn't believe the ACT government has an appetite for law changes, even when they would assist in policing the bikies.
"I think the government has made its views clear on this issue," he said.
Once a Rebels OMCG stronghold, Canberra now has four resident gangs - the Hells Angels, Finks, Rebels and Comancheros - most with access to onshore and offshore criminal networks.
The specialised NSW Police Strike Force Raptor, which was formed specifically in 2009 to disrupt bikie activity across that state, is understood to be aware of the Canberra gathering.
It is expected that any movements of motorcycles on the Hume Highway southbound will be watched carefully in the coming days.
However, bikie gangs have developed their own tactics to prevent coming to the attention of authorities.
Most are expected to fly into the territory, or travel here by car.
Their motorcycles are expected to be loaded onto a covered truck and sent separately.
There are no laws to prevent them wearing their club "colours" and riding in massed groups around the ACT provided they commit no traffic offences or other crimes. A number of Canberra nightclubs and bars do not permit the wearing of club "colours" on their premises.
After three years of consorting laws operating in New South Wales from 2009-12 in which around 9000 warnings were issued and 46 charges laid, a review by the NSW Ombudsman's office found "qualitative evidence to support the effective use of the consorting law by the Gangs Squad to target high-risk outlaw motorcycle gangs".
The review supported the laws remaining in place but with a new statutory framework to ensure their use was focused on serious crime and not in relation to minor offending.
Under NSW legislation, the Crimes Act makes it an offence to "habitually consort with at least two 'convicted offenders' on at least two occasions, after receiving an official consorting warning from police in relation to each offender".
A NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission report, issued last month, reviewed the laws again and recommended they remain in place, with added caveats.
