Labour leader Phil Goff says South Australia's world-first step of outlawing gangs is looking positive and he is willing to work in
a bipartisan way to get it introduced here.
Mr Goff is in Adelaide examining how the ban works and said the enthusiasm of police officers involved "suggests this legislation has the real prospect of working".
The South Australian Government introduced the ban last year aiming to "get gang members to leave the gang or leave the state".
The police have made their first application to outlaw a gang called the
Finks, with a decision due from the State's Attorney-General at the end of this month. If it goes ahead, the Finks will be a "declared organisation" with police able to issue control orders against members and ban them from public places.
Breaching the ban can be punished with up to five years in prison.
Mr Goff said there would be a clear picture within a matter of months of its effectiveness.
While in government, Mr Goff said he would introduce the ban if it worked. Yesterday he said he still wanted to see it in action, but felt it would "make a real difference".
Mr Goff said he would discuss it with Justice Minister Simon Power on
his return, with a view to working in a bipartisan way to get similar legislation introduced here.
Mr Goff said the police briefed him on the Finks, who he described as a
motorcycle gang like New Zealand's Hells Angels or Head Hunters that wanted to get a low profile and focus on drug dealing.
Mr Goff said he felt the benefits of the ban would override any civil liberties concerns.
South Australian motorcyclists have formed a party called Free Australia in opposition to the ban, saying it is a political stunt designed to
marginalise and harass a minority group.
Free Australia has written to the Attorney-General opposing the police
application for the Finks to be made illegal.
Free Australia leader Paul Kuhn said that from the moment a group became
a banned organisation "then any of their members become subject to control orders on the say-so of a police officer" without any avenue for review.
Mr Power is due to introduce a bill containing measures to help control gangs.
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