Queensland police have quietly dropped the term “criminal motorcycle gangs” or “CMGs” for bikies in a sign of a new political climate.
Police have instead reverted to the more widely recognised “outlaw motorcycle gangs” or OMCG, the term used by the new police minister, Jo Ann Miller.
The term CMG was coined by the former Newman government, which directed police to adopt it from the outset of its legislative and public relations campaign against bikies in 2013.
The Palaszczuk Labor government is reviewing the “bikie laws”, including anti-association and mandatory sentencing provisions, after pre-election promises to repeal them.
A government source told Guardian Australia that senior police had approached the minister’s office and independently decided to use OMCG to be consistent with Miller.
The source said some senior police had expressed relief at the demise of the term “CMG”, saying that they felt its use in interstate communications made the force a “laughing stock among other jurisdictions”.
All other Australian police forces, as well as the Australian Crime Commission, refer to the bikies as OMCGs.
Bikies refer to themselves as outlaw motorcycle clubs, “1%” clubs or simply motorcycle clubs.
The term OMCG appeared again in police media releases this week. This included one describing the arrest of two Bandidos “participants” accused of the serious assault of a police officer who tried to stop them bashing a man near the main entrance of a Brisbane hospital.
The press release originally contained a third term “outlaw criminal motorcycle gang” or “OCMG”, but a police spokeswoman said this was an error.
The 23-year-old was charged with affray, serious assault on police and steroids possession after a raid on a Greenslopes home on Wednesday.
A fellow accused Bandidos member, 28, was also charged over the alleged assault on a man near the main entrance of Greenslopes private hospital in January.
Police said they would allege the pair “punched, kicked and struck another man with a tyre lever”.
They would further allege that when the off-duty officer tried to intervene, he was “threatened by the man armed with the tyre lever”.
The alleged bikies will appear in Brisbane magistrates court tomorrow.
Det Insp Brendan Smith, from the gang crime squad Maxima, said the alleged assault “once again demonstrates how gang members use violence to enforce their will”.
“This incident occurred at the entrance of a major Brisbane hospital and had the potential to put innocent community members at risk,” Smith said.
