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Darren Churchill ACT- Media Release: 26th February, 2010: Proposed police powers laws labelled “Draconian” by Democrats
- Media Release: 22nd January 2010: ACT Democrats join Great Australian Internet Blackout.
- Media Release: 20th January 2010: Canberrans must have a guarantee that South Australian Movie Laws won’t be copied by ACT Assembly, say Democrats.
- Media Release: 14th January 2010: Canberrans Need Action Not Words in Opposing Internet Censorship, say Democrats
- Media Release: 02 December: Canberrans Let Down as Humphries Toes Party Line, say Democrats
- Begin Rant – Kathryn Crosby
- Begin Rant: The disenfranchised and forgotten Australians
- Begin Rant: Cheesecake and the path not taken
- Begin Rant: The dangers for rural health in Rudd’s proposed health care takeover
- Begin Rant: You really can’t get mad cow from a meat pie.
- Begin Rant: Internet Censorship reflective of Rudd’s wider control agenda
Four Wheels Good; Two Wheels Bad – Police Association demonizes motorcycles, bikie gangs and minorites
The Australian Democrats condemn in the strongest possible terms agitation by the police officers trade union for new Victorian laws that criminalize motorcycle riders. Such laws would breach many of the fundamental civil liberties enjoyed by all, oppress an innocent minority and foster a culture of intolerance.
“We want none of this,” the Democrats Higgins by-election candidate David Collyer said today.
“Motorcyclists are entitled to equal treatment under the law in all circumstances. They may be scruffy, and people may be affronted when bikes noisily zoom past their cars, but this does not make them criminals.
“Tyrannizing a minority will not make the majority safer; it merely opens a window for further discrimination and is an incitement to violence – both official and civil.
“And since when do trade unions get to re-write our criminal law? Police Association Secretary Greg Davies would be well advised to focus on the pay and conditions of his members, not in trying to overturn a thousand years weighty precedents by appealing to people’s thoughtless instincts.
“It may be superficially attractive to call for ‘strong laws’ – whatever that might mean – but it does nothing to advance us as a civilization and as a community.
“There are criminals in the bikie groups, this is known. But that does not give license to condemn all group members, and by implication all motorcycle riders.
Victoria’s Chief Police Commissioner Simon Overland is quoted today saying the state’s organised crime laws are tough enough to deal with any criminal gangs that try to operate here. Equally, there have been no calls for legal changes from the judiciary.
“If the Police Commissioner is satisfied, and our Judges are content with their tools, that ought be the end of the matter.
“If citizens have any doubts about the Democrats’ unflinching stance on this matter, just substitute ‘Jew’ or ‘Arab’ or ‘Hippy’ where you see ‘Bikie Gang’ in a sentence. The intolerance and bigotry on display will quickly become clear.
“I know this is a state issue and that I am a candidate for federal office but nonsense like this has to be resisted in all forums, at all times and with great energy.
“This is a matter of the highest principle,” Collyer concluded.
Media contact – David Collyer 0413 248 193
David Collyer is currently contesting the Higgins by election for the Australian Democrats against Clive Hamilton for The Greens and Kelly O’Dwyer for the Liberal Party,
Tags: agitation, association secretary, australia, Australian Democrats, blog, chief police, choices, crime laws, criminal gangs, criminal law, david collyer, democrat, democratic, democrats, election candidate, equal treatment, fundamental civil liberties, greg davies, hippy, incitement, individual liberty, instincts, legal changes, motorcycle riders, motorcyclists, police association, police commissioner, political thought, politics, sectional interests, self interest, senate, senator, sound foundations, trade unions, victorians
