ACC tackles outlaw motorcycle gangs
The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia
The Senate
26 May 2008
Australian Crime Commission
Chair - I welcome representatives from the Australian Crime Commission to our estimates. Good evening, Mr Lawler. Do you want to start by making an opening statement?
Mr Lawler - Madam Chair, I do not wish to make a statement.
Chair - Ms Bailey? No. We will go to questions, then.
Senator Barnett - Mr Lawler, welcome and congratulations on your appointment. When was that effective?
Mr Lawler - Thank you very much, Senator. The appointment was effective 1 March.
Senator Barnett - Well, congratulations. I hope you are settling in well to the role.
Mr Lawler - I am. It is very challenging.
Senator Barnett - Good. I am sure you are up to the challenge.
Mr Lawler - I hope so.
Senator Barnett - We enjoyed our relationship with Mr Milroy over a long period of time.
Mr Lawler - Thank you.
Senator Barnett - I would like to kick off with some questions. To start with, perhaps we could look at what is referred to as the OMCGs, or outlaw motorcycle gangs. There are obviously plans that you would be well aware of in South Australia in terms of legislation in South Australia and New South Wales. I understand other states and territories are looking at similar legislation to that which has been promulgated in South Australia and perhaps New South Wales. I wonder whether you could give us an update report on the role of the ACC in terms of what you are doing to investigate this area of crime. Then we will go from there. It has been a serious issue. It has had a lot of public attention over the last several months, with obviously a high profile murder and serious, high levels of violence and like activity. I wonder if you could provide some input in terms of the role of the ACC in combating this type of behaviour.
Mr Lawler - Yes. I certainly would like to make some comments around the issue of outlaw motorcycle gangs. Indeed, the ACC provided information to the parliamentary joint committee on this particular area of concern for the community. The outlaw motorcycle gangs are investigated under the high-risk crime group determination. We have worked very closely with a range of partner agencies in gathering intelligence and supporting partner agencies, particularly the state and territory police, in providing effective responses to outlaw motorcycle gangs. The gangs’ activities range from social nuisance in residential communities through to involvement in some of the most significant criminal syndicates operating in Australia today. Our intelligence shows that there are approximately 39 active outlaw motorcycle gangs in Australia, with some 3,300 patched members. Many OMCGs have a presence in more than one state and territory and have linkages to some of the most sophisticated and high-threat organised crime groups operating in Australia and internationally.
As the name suggests, they are involved in unlawful activities. Indeed, we are not talking about law abiding citizens who ride motorcycles in their spare time. I am talking about outlaw motorcycle gangs who are by their very nature a serious threat to our society. For example, the ACC has uncovered infiltration of some industries, such as the security and maritime industries, by outlaw motorcycle gangs. The ACC has responded directly to this threat since January 2007 with the establishment of the OMCG National Intelligence Task Force. Whilst this task force ceased in June 2008, the ACC’s commitment to tackling OMCGs was consolidated by incorporating the work of the task force into the ACC board approved Serious and Organised Crime National Intelligence Task Force. The ACC has irrefutable evidence that OMCGs are connected in many ways and cooperate actively with sophisticated and high-threat organised crime groups operating in Australia and internationally. The focus of the new task force is concentrating on the highest risk crime groups. It exposes the intricate networks and connections of our most serious organised crime threats, many of which involve OMCGs in some form.
It is important, I think, that I emphasise to the committee that whilst the OMCGs pose a serious threat in their own right, it is their involvement with established and, in some cases, transnational groups that elevates their threat to the highest levels. The task force is developing national intelligence on serious and organised criminal activities, including those of OMCGs, to better guide a national investigative and policy response. This involves a coordinated effort of all state and territory jurisdictions. I must emphasise that the purpose of the OMCG National Intelligence Task Force and the Serious and Organised Crime National Intelligence Task Force is not for the ACC in and of itself to make arrests. Our role is to gather intelligence and target information and provide that irresistible target information in our partner agencies, particularly in the context of OMCGs, the state and territory police, for action, either with the ACC or by that jurisdiction, in a unilateral way.
To give you some context as to the amount of intelligence disseminations that have been provided by the ACC, there have been more than 1,500 intelligence disseminations between January 2007 and February 2009. The nature of this intelligence must be kept secret for obvious reasons. But we do know from our partner agencies that the ACC intelligence disseminations have greatly assisted their criminal investigations and subsequent prosecutions. So, Senator, there is a quick snapshot of the work that the ACC is doing in tackling the serious threat posed by OMCGs.
Senator Barnett - Thank you, Mr Lawler.
Proceedings suspended from 9.01 pm to 9.14 pm
Chair - Let us reconvene this hearing of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee and our estimates process. We have before us the Australian Crime Commission.
Senator Barnett - Thanks again, Mr Lawler, for that overview, which was very useful for our committee. Could you please perhaps briefly describe the main types of crimes that the OMCGs are involved in.
Mr Lawler - They are involved in all manner of serious and organised crime from narcotics, trafficking and distribution, serious fraud, money laundering to offences against the person - intimidation, serious assaults and, of course, highly publicised cases involving murder. So the full spectrum of criminality is what OMCGs engage in.
Senator Barnett - But you mention their role in more high tech type crimes. Would you say they have moved from the traditional sort of personal abuse or violence and guns and drugs to more high tech crime? You mentioned money laundering, for example. Is that a bit of a trend that we are seeing now with OMCGs?
Mr Lawler - That is a trend, yes. We are seeing outlaw motorcycle gangs in a variety of forms - either members of outlaw motorcycle gangs operating outside of their outlaw motorcycle group but linking with serious and organised criminals or doing it within the group themselves. But we are seeing greater levels of sophistication and greater levels of connectivity with serious and organised criminals in a broader context and the capabilities and infrastructure that they have and can bring to the relationships between OMCGs and serious and organised crime groups. We are also seeing the use of professionals - accountants and other professional people - to aid OMCGs, particularly when it comes to issues of money laundering, as you have identified.
Senator Barnett - You mentioned in your statement that there are 39 active OMCGs in Australia. You said that they are linking with organised crime groups in Australia and internationally. Can you provide an example of that? What types of organised crime groups are you referring to?
Mr Lawler - We are talking about the full gamut of organised criminality, organised crime groups - Asian organised crime groups and Middle Eastern crime groups, to name two.
Senator Barnett - In Australia or overseas?
Mr Lawler - That is in Australia. But, of course -
Senator Barnett - Primarily in Sydney and Melbourne?
Mr Lawler - I will just go back. The point of serious and organised criminality is that they will have in the very large majority of cases international linkages. Given the globalised nature of the world, that is what we see. But we also see connectivity between OMCG groups within Australia and internationally. Senator, I would not like to take that too much further but suffice to say that the ACC has intelligence that confirms that fact.
Senator Barnett - Thank you for that. You referred to the fact that the task force was established in January 2007 and continued until June 2008. Then it morphed into the OMCG national task force in June 2008. I think you have been criticised for the cessation of that taskforce in June 2008. Do you have a response to that criticism?
Mr Lawler - Yes, I do. I think those that criticise the ACC about that misunderstand what in fact occurred. It was effectively a morphing, a transition, from what was a specific task force looking at outlaw motorcycle gangs. Bear in mind that the board of the Australian Crime Commission actually approved the new endeavour. This is 13 of the most senior law enforcement persons in the country. After being presented with information and material by the ACC, they formed a collective view that that was the most appropriate way to tackle the problem and, at its heart, was the linkage that I have spoken about between OMCGs and serious and organised criminal activity. We were seeing that morph together. It was believed by the board that the Serious and Organised Crime National Intelligence Task Force more appropriately described where the focus needed to be. Indeed, I think that was a very good decision of the board.
Senator Barnett - Obviously, there is a difference of opinion in that regard. I want to ask about the highest risk crime groups. Can you describe them?
Mr Lawler - Well, amongst those are the outlaw motorcycle gangs. Bear in mind that the Australian Crime Commission targets the most serious and highest risk within those particular groups, so they are a significant part of that particular determination. But there are other serious and organised criminals within a variety of other crime groups that are being targeted. Of course, I am not able to disclose who it is we are targeting because that would defeat the purpose of the Crime Commission’s activities.
Senator Barnett - You mention intelligence dissemination reports of some 1,500-odd from June, I think it was, 2007 to February 2009. It sounds like a high number in that regard. Would you say that would be one of your key performance indicators in terms of intelligence dissemination reports?
Mr Lawler - Yes, it is. It is important for the community to understand the quantity of information reports that we provide and disseminations across a whole range of information that we gather, be it through the ACC’s intelligence collection processes or indeed through the coercive hearings that are performed by the Australian Crime Commission. But equally important in the context of quantity is quality and what and how have those disseminations assisted our partner agencies in delivering against their outcomes. Have they aided the agencies that we work with in their endeavours? Indeed, the data that we receive back from the agencies indicates that it does consistently aid them very significantly in their operational delivery.
Senator Barnett - I would like to now ask about the options. What do you have in the toolbox, as has been referred to previously, in terms of combating the OMCGs in this country? We have seen the South Australian legislation, which some would say is very strong. Some would say it is even over the top in terms of outlawing and combating the OMCGs. I asked this question in February and it is now mid-May. Can you provide any further advice with respect to the success or otherwise of that legislation, knowing full well that the legislation has been passed? I think it is the Finks who have been proscribed in South Australia. There is now litigation, I understand, afoot. Can you advise of any trends that are building in terms of bikies moving perhaps from South Australia to other jurisdictions or any other trends that you might wish to share with the committee?
Mr Lawler - Senator, I think the ACC responded to one of your questions on notice on this particular point and indicated at the time - 23 February was the date of the question on notice - that it was still too early to understand the full ramifications of the legislation in South Australia and, indeed, elsewhere. That is still the case. We have seen legal challenges already to the legislation in South Australia. So my advice is that it is at too early a stage to make definitive statements around the effect of the legislation or the likely flow-on effects from it. I will say this: in treating it as serious and organised criminality, what we see is that crime groups are resilient. Crime groups have the flexibility to be able to navigate around attempts by governments and their agencies to curtail their unlawful activity. So it will be a matter of constant review, revision and reflection on the activities.
Senator Barnett - So you do not have a view as to the merit or otherwise of the New South Wales legislation?
Mr Lawler - I do have a view. The view is that any activity that makes it more difficult for serious and organised criminals, including OMCGs, to undertake their activities is to be welcomed.
Senator Barnett - But you would want to at all times balance the rights and the civil liberties of individuals in that regard, would you not?
Mr Lawler - The civil liberties of all Australians and the rights of all Australians are paramount. But these activities - the activities of the outlaw motorcycle gangs - are impacting the rights of the normal Australian citizen, as we have seen on many occasions.
Senator Barnett - Sure. Have you put forward any proposals to government to combat OMCGs in terms of options?
Mr Lawler - The ACC has a very close working relationship with the Attorney-General’s Department. Indeed, the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department is on the board of the Australian Crime Commission. Issues of legislation are matters that are regularly brought to the attention of the ACC board. Indeed, the ACC regularly raises matters with the department around serious and organised criminality.
Senator Barnett - Have you done that recently?
Mr Lawler - We regularly do it in discussions with the department.
Senator Barnett - Does the ACC have meetings with the department to discuss and put forward options that you might consider to be of merit?
Mr Lawler - Yes.
Senator Barnett - How often would you have those meetings?
Mr Lawler - The contact with the department is very regular.
Senator Barnett - At least monthly?
Mr Lawler - At least monthly.
Senator Barnett - Are there a range of options that you have put to the department for consideration by the department and/or the minister in the last month?
Mr Lawler - There are a range of issues that the ACC has been discussing with the department, yes.
Senator Barnett - What about the options for reform in terms of combating OMCGs in Australia?
Mr Lawler - These are the sorts of matters that we are talking about and, indeed, that the board of the commission is focused on.
Senator Barnett - Would you say they are under active consideration by the department?
Mr Lawler - Yes, I would.
Senator Barnett - Thanks for that. I do not have any more on OMCGs, but I have a range of other areas for questioning, if we want to move off OMCGs.
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