The High Court has upheld NSW laws targeting bikie gangs which ban convicted criminals from meeting together.
Two Nomad bikie gang members, Sleiman Tajjour and Justin Hawthorne, plus disability pensioner Charlie Forster, mounted the legal bid to have the state's anti-consorting laws struck out after being charged under them in 2012.
Their lawyers argued the laws fringed on freedom of association and communication.
But on Wednesday a majority High Court ruling upheld section 93X of the NSW Crimes Act, which makes it an offence to habitually consort with convicted offenders.
The court found there was no right to freedom of association under the constitution and that the law did not breach the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights because it was not federal legislation.
The court accepted the laws effectively burden the implied freedom of communication about government and political matters.
But it was reasonably appropriate to serve the legitimate end of crime prevention.
The NSW parliament passed the laws to curb gun violence and bikie gangs in 2012.
Forster, 21, who is intellectually disabled, was jailed for consorting with criminals in the northern NSW township of Inverell, was the first person charged under the laws.
There's a three year maximum jail term and or $16,500 fine for offenders who continue to consort with convicted criminals after receiving an official police warning.
There have been several showdowns between bikie gangs and state governments in the High Court in recent years.
The NSW government welcomed the findings.
Attorney-General Brad Hazzard said the laws uphold the government's tough stance.
They "give police the powers they need to disrupt and dismantle criminal organisations, including outlaw motorcycle gangs," he said in a statement.
"It is not surprising that criminals don't like the laws and wanted them overturned, but today's decision in the High Court ensures they are here to stay."
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