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Bikie gangs akin to the mafia: Bleijie

Queensland's attorney-general says criminal bikie gangs are like the mafia, and he has no self-doubt about his crackdown.

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Source: AAP


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Criminal bikie gangs are Australia's answer to the mafia, Queensland's attorney-general says.

Jarrod Bleijie says he has no self-doubt about his crackdown on outlaw bikie gangs, despite savage criticism from civil libertarians and lawyers who represent bikies.

During an interview on Fairfax radio, he agreed with one caller's views that outlaw motorcycle gangs are Australia's answer to the mafia.

"Yeah, these are criminal gangs, criminal bikie organisations," Mr Bleijie said.

He again acknowledged there would be a transition period where some law abiding riders could be caught up as police work to nab bikie criminals.

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"There is going to be a level of inconvenience," he said.

"As we all get pulled over for random breath tests, when you get screened at the airport, there is a level of inconvenience.

"The feedback I'm getting from motorcycle riders (is) they are happy for a period of time to undergo that period of inconvenience if we are getting the bad guys off the street."

A lawyer who acts for members of unnamed outlaw bikie gangs on Monday said he'd mount a High Court challenge to the new anti-bikie laws as soon as possible, arguing they are unconstitutional.

Peter Shields says the laws have been so poorly crafted that clients of his have been left with no process by which they could satisfy police they'd severed their gang links.

"Someone from the government, who is responsible for this legislation, needs to put in writing what it is a bikie must do so they're no longer considered a bikie," Mr Shields said.


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