CX500 : Formation of Australia's United Motorcycle Council Blog :

BIKE CLUB MEMBERS AND THEIR RIGHTS TO WORK

Under the proposed new laws

Bike Club members will no longer be barred from working in areas such as electrical, security and plumbing industries just because of their associations.

Under the Palaszczuk Government’s proposed laws, bikies will also be able to use “fear of retribution as a reasonable excuse for not complying with orders under the (Crime and Corruption Commission’s) powers of compulsion”.

The CCC would also no longer be able to withhold evidence that is potentially favourable to those charged with offences.

Explanatory notes attached to the new laws also reveal Newman Government-introduced minimum sentences for contempt of the CCC will be repealed.

Currently, those who refuse to give evidence or provide information to the CCC under the watchdog’s coercive powers face fixed sentences, with jail time from the first offence.