UMC 
NSW
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Bikies Take Law Concerns to Parliament - 23 June 2010
Australian Associated Press General News
Bikers have converged on NSW's parliament house seeking the repeal of anti-association laws they say were rushed in after a fatal brawl at Sydney Airport. About 30 bikers from various groups, representing the United Motorcycle Council of NSW, roared along Macquarie Street on Wednesday morning, with other traffic coming to a standstill as police quietly kept an eye on events.
Led by chairman Mark "Ferret" Moroney, the council came to deliver a letter to Attorney-General John Hatzistergos.
"We'd like the anti-association laws debated, they weren't debated when they first come in over a year ago, they were rushed through parliament and we want them to listen to us and we're ready to debate them now," Mr Moroney told reporters outside parliament on Wednesday.
While Mr Moroney said the council "have no fears", there are concerns the laws will have an impact on family and friends.
"Our concerns about the laws - we have children, we have grandchildren - it involves everyone, not just bikers," he said.
In the letter to Mr Hatzistergos the council refers to concerns aired by Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery that "the legislation was not necessary and could be used on any group".
Under the laws, the government may impose control orders on members of a "declared" organisation, prohibiting them from associating with other members. Anyone convicted faces up to five years in jail.
Mr Moroney told reporters: "We want to know why it wasn't debated to start with, why it was rushed through.
"We talked to politicians privately, off the record, who've said had they known exactly what the anti-association laws contained they would not have voted for it."
Three council representatives entered Parliament House requesting that Mr Hatzistergos meet them and accept the letter.
But after a short wait they were told no one from the attorney-general's office would see them because the letter posed a "security issue".
Earlier on Wednesday Mr Hatzistergos told reporters the council had not contacted his office.
"I don't negotiate over the application of criminal law," Mr Hatzistergos told reporters.
"If the hat fits, wear it."
Anthony Zervas, 29, died in a brawl between warring bikie gangs at Sydney Airport on March 22, 2009, casting the spotlight on outlaw motorcycle groups.
Bikies Take Anti-Association Law Protest to Parliament - 23 June 2010
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News
Representatives from New South Wales motorcycle clubs are at Parliament house in Sydney today to challenge the state's bikie laws. They gathered outside the parliament with their Harley Davidsons lining Maquarie Street.
The group wants to present a letter to the Attorney-General John Hatzistergos that calls for amendments made to the Crimes Act last year to be publicly debated.
Under the changes a Supreme Court judge can declare a group a criminal organisation - meaning members could be prosecuted for associating with one another.
The law was brought in after the fatal bashing of Anthony Zervas at Sydney Airport but so far it has not been used.
Chairman of the United Motorcycle Council, Mark Moroney says it was rushed through.
"We've talked to politicians privately," he said.
"Off the record they've said, had they known what the anti-association law contained, they would not have voted for it."
The bikies say they will try to attend question time today.
Bikies want Banning Law Lifted - 23 June 2010
The Sydney Morning Herald
AS POLICE work on a plan to ban an outlaw motorcycle club in NSW, a group of bikies will appeal today to the government to reconsider the laws.
Thirty members of the United Motorcycle Council - formed after a deadly brawl at Sydney Airport in March last year - are seeking a meeting with the Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, to present their plea.
Within weeks of the killing of Anthony Zervas at the airport, the government introduced legislation allowing the police to apply to the Supreme Court for an order to have a bikie declared a criminal organisation.
So far, no such declaration has been made, but the Herald reported in March that one of the two clubs involved in the airport brawl - the Hells Angels and the Comanchero - was expected to be a target of the new law.
Mark "Ferret" Moroney, the chairman of the motorcycle council and a member of the Finks Motorcycle Club, wants a public debate about repealing the legislation which, he says, was introduced without "transparency and accountability".
The council says the law "has been widely condemned as flawed and undemocratic".
Two bikies from each of the clubs represented by the motorcycle council are expected to arrive at State Parliament today to appeal to Mr Hatzistergos.
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