Queensland will seek to introduce laws to ban bikie and gang logos from being worn in public as part of sweeping changes to existing bikie laws.
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said on Sunday she would make amendments to the controversial Vicious Lawlessness Association Disestablishment (Vlad) Act to be introduced in September.
The changes would include new limitations on the wearing of gang colours and bikie insignia in public places, going far beyond the existing limits on the wearing of colours in some licensed establishments.
Palaszczuk said on Sunday: “My message is very clear – you will not be able to intimidate members of the Queensland public because if you do, your colours will be confiscated and you will face possible jail time.”
The amendments take into account some of the reforms proposed by the former supreme court judge Alan Wilson in his review, in which parts of the regime were described as “excessively harsh”.
It is unclear at this stage how closely Palaszczuk’s bill will mirror his recommendations until the bill is produced in parliament in September.
Although she described the changes as reforms to the controversial Vlad laws, the replacement regime is still likely to still be severe. Palaszczuk has flagged the introduction of “a new organised crime control order” and some mandatory terms.
The use of a control order regime is likely to mirror similar legal devices being used in terrorism matters, as well as increasingly in other areas of public order. New South Wales has also recently introduced similar types of civil orders.
The use of the orders is controversial because they require a considerably lower standard of proof than in ordinary criminal matters, despite potentially imposing severe restrictions on an individual.
Civil liberties groups have continued to raise serious concerns about the laws, which impose restrictions on the association and movement of bike gangs as well as other individuals.
