The anti-organised crime law proposed by Queensland’s Premier and Attorney-General is counterproductive and may make the suppression and prevention of organised crime more difficult, according to a University of Queensland law academic.
Dr Andreas Schloenhardt, Associate Professor of UQ’s TC Beirne School of Law, said that the proposed law attempted to prevent and suppress organised crime simply by banning unwanted organisations.
“This system is designed to outlaw groups and individuals that are seen as dangerous, violent, or as otherwise constituting a risk to public safety," he said.
"This approach of simply labelling certain groups shares similarities with laws dealing with terrorist organizations in that it creates lists of proscribed organizations and criminalises support of, or other associations, with them.”
Dr Schloenhardt said he had concerns about the elements, indicia, standard of proof, and other methods proposed to outlaw organisations.
“The labelling of an organisation as criminal effectively prohibits the very existence of a group on the basis of conduct in which that group may engage in the future," he said.
"The administrative processes proposed in Queensland lack clarity, consistency, and safeguards, and creates a risk of collusion between different branches of government and the judiciary.
"There is also concern over the use of classified information in the labelling process which prevents groups from knowing the reasons why they have been banned.”
Dr Schloenhardt said that while this approach may be helpful in identifying and labelling some criminal organizations, it was of no use against flexible criminal networks that did not carry a particular name and had no formal organisational structure.
“It also creates the risk that outlawed groups will consolidate, move further underground, and engage in more clandestine, more dangerous, and more violent operations," he said.
"This has clearly been the experience in Japan, which has taken a similar approach to Queensland.
"Furthermore, other groups may simply resurface under a different name, thus circumventing the legislation altogether.”
Media: Dr Andreas Schloenhardt is currently overseas researching organised crime in Africa but can be reached by email on a.schloenhardt@law.uq.edu.au or
Lynda Flower, School of Law, 07 3365 2523, l.flwoer@law.uq.edu.au
