Oz cracks down on 'bikie' gangs
Deadly airport brawl proves last straw for fed-up Aussies
Michael Madigan
Michael Madigan is the Winnipeg Free Press correspondent in
Australia. He writes about politics for the Brisbane based Courier
Mail.
Along with a constitutional monarchy and the observance of the
Boxing Day holiday Canada and Australia share another common denominator
-- outlaw bike gangs.
Canada's Gerald Gallant, alleged to be the country's most prolific
serial killer, has admitted to gunning down several bikies during
battles between the Hells Angels and Rock Machines gang in drug
related turf wars between 1994 and 2002.
International news reports back in Australia suggest violent
bikies have long been a problem in Quebec, with author Julian
Sher quoted as suggesting bikie-related murders in Canada actually
rivalled the killings during Al Capone reign in Chicago.
The news has resonance down under as Australia is gripped by
one of its periodic fits of moral outrage over bikie gangs which
last month allowed their internal feuding to spill over into the
arrival lounge of the Sydney Airport.
The Hells Angles and Comancheros went into battle in front of
terrified passengers, seizing metal bollards used to separate
people at the check-in counters and using them as weapons of mass
destruction.
Sobbing bystanders told on the evening news of watching a man
beaten to death during the brawl as bikies allegedly caved in
the victim's head with their improvised weapons during the brawl,
which raged for about 15 minutes.
The violence followed a gradual escalation of tension since Feb.
3 when the front of the Hell's Angels clubhouse in Sydney was
blown apart while shots were fired at a near by tattoo parlour.
From there things got worse:
Feb. 27: Three members of the Nomads gang are shot outside their
Sydney club house.
March 19: A woman alleged to be associated with the "Notorious''
bikie gang is charged after two drive-by shootings in Sydney.
March 21: Seven Sydney homes are sprayed with bullets is a series
of drive-by shootings.
March 22: The violence culminates with Anthony Zervas, 29, being
bludgeoned to death with the metal bollards at the Sydney Airport.
Last week, police found a homemade bomb in a plastic bag outside
a senior Bandidos bikie's Sydney home.
All up, it's not something a nation heavily reliant on the international
tourism dollar wants on its brochures, and it was enough to produce
a national outcry.
The issue of the bikies has slithered around the Australian sub
conscious ever since Marlon Brando roared onto the big screen
on that Triumph Thunderbird 6T in the Wild One in 1953, transforming
the motorcycle from a cheap, relatively uncomfortable from of
transportation into a statement of criminal intent.
As Australians followed the post war generations of Americans
onto the open road and formed themselves into packs the word "bikie''
entered the language.
And in Australia it is bikie -- not biker as in America and Canada.
It's a slightly more affectionate term, perhaps reflecting the
tolerance many Australians had for the original boys (and they
were all boys) in provincial towns who roared around on their
old Nortons and BSAs and occasionally got into brawls on the football
oval but who never intended much harm.
In the 21st century the Nortons and BSAs are replaced by expensive
Harley-Davidsons and the world of the bikie with its connections
to organized drug distribution has taken on a sinister edge, prompting
at least one state government to outlaw them.
New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees said the brawl in the Sydney
Airport that occurred on his watch showed an iron fist was needed.
"The bikie gangs crossed the line,'' he said, of the airport
attack.
Rees' new laws would allow police to seek a court order to make
membership of a listed bikie gang illegal.
Those who continue to gather in their club houses or on the road
in the face of the new legislation face up to five years in jail.
Police will also be able to seize assets and search homes of
suspected gang members, who could be banned from working in a
range of industries from security services to pawn broking.
Civil rights campaigners point to a conflict with the right of
freedom of association in a healthy democracy.
Barrister Malcolm Ramage told the respected ABC current affairs
program Lateline that the new laws were an appalling attack on
civil liberties.
"It's astonishing that it went through the Lower House without
a long and arduous and adequate debate,'' he said.
But bikies will find no champion in Australian politicians who
are jumping over themselves to join in the attack.
New South Wales Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell didn't just
support the new laws, he appeared to relish them.
"I would have no problem if you put all the gang members
in two rooms and allowed them to shoot themselves to death,''
O'Farrell told state parliament.
"I would have no problem with that at all.''
Michael Madigan is the Winnipeg Free Press correspondent in Australia.
He writes about politics for the Brisbane based Courier Mail.
