Bikies will back state Labor at next state election

• DAMON GUPPY
• THE COURIER-MAIL
• JANUARY 05, 2015 12:00AM 

Arrests made in a bikie investigation, including eight Rebels

OPPOSITION Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk will have the backing of exiled bikies across Queensland when she goes to the polls this year.

Labor’s pledge to repeal and replace the controversial anti-bikie laws is likely to score her thousands of votes from not only disgruntled motorcycle gang members but also their families, associates and even charities that benefited from their fundraising, bikie chiefs say.

BIKIE LAWS: Police say hands off

United Motorcycle Council Queensland spokesman and Rebels leader Mick Kosenko said in a contest between Campbell Newman and Ms Palaszczuk, the bikies would back Labor.

“We just want a government that will sit down with us and talk about the issues they have with motorcycle clubs,” he said.

“We just want to be treated like a sporting club. We are a sporting club. We’ll go along with anyone – Labor, Katter, whoever will listen rather than treat us like criminals.”

Rebels leader Mick Kosenko.

The Opposition plans to review the Vicious Lawlessness Disestablishment Act (VLAD) and replace the laws with new legislation that targets organised crime. The LNP intends to ramp up its laws by banning bikies from holding a licence to work in construction.

Ms Palaszczuk said the current laws were unworkable and “in some cases are impacting on innocent Queenslanders” but Premier Campbell Newman said they were fair and had made the state safer.

“Labor has it in their policy (to repeal the VLAD laws). They’re looking at laws that fight real organised crime – using police resources for real crimes – and not just terrorise people on motorcycles,’’ Mr Kosenko said. “(The LNP) sort of made up an extra crime targeting us. If they had put all that money into fighting real crime, it would definitely have dropped.”

He said the laws had created extra work for police.

“When we’d ride together, they used to keep an eye on us for things like DUI or outstanding warrants but that was all,” Mr Kosenko said.

“They knew how to manage us and there was very little trouble. Now, because of these laws, the poor cops are thrown in the deep end.”

He said the Rebels’ 13 chapters across Queensland alone would raise more than $50,000 a year for charities such as the Leukaemia Foundation, Redcliffe Hospital, schools and sporting clubs.

Former Rebels sergeant-at-arms Mike Smith, whose two sons were placed in solitary confinement after being among the infamous Yandina 5 arrests on the Sunshine Coast in 2013, said the bikie laws were a “crime against humanity”.

“Myself and my two sons can’t even have a beer together,” he said. “We can’t even drive in the same car together.

“You want to know something sad? I voted for Campbell Newman.”.

Labor draws level with LNP

Newspoll: Labor draws level with LNP

• ANDREW FRASER
• THE AUSTRALIAN
• JANUARY 03, 2015 12:00AM
• 85 COMMENTS

Campbell Newman’s government has suffered a four-point drop in support since the previous quarterly poll in September. Picture: Jono Searle.

QUEENSLAND’S main political parties are in lock-step as the election approaches, with the latest Newspoll showing support for the Liberal National Party and Labor at 50 per cent each on a two-party-preferred basis.

Campbell Newman’s government has suffered a four-point drop in support since the previous quarterly poll in September when it held a 54-46 lead over Labor.

Mr Newman has slightly improved his standing as preferred premier from 41 per cent to 44 per cent.

Labor leader Annastacia Palaszczuk has been steady on 35 per cent all year.

GRAPHIC: Queensland Newspoll

The potential swing against the LNP would cost the Premier his seat of Ashgrove, which he holds by a margin of only 5.7 per cent, were the poll results to be uniformly translated across the state. He will face Labor’s Kate Jones, the former holder of the seat and a seasoned campaigner.

The LNP came to power in a landslide three years ago in March 2012, winning 78 of the 89 seats in the Queensland parliament and gaining nearly 63 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote. The government insists it does not have to go to the polls until June, though Queensland voters have a history of punishing governments that go beyond a three-year term.

The National Party in 1989 and Labor in 2012 were thrown out of office after seeking to hold on to power as long as possible.

Mr Newman has also seen a small turnaround in his satisfaction rating in the current Newspoll. It has gone up three percentage points to 38 per cent while his dissatisfaction rating has dropped three points to 51 per cent.

His net satisfaction rating — the difference between satisfaction and dissatisfaction — remains deep in negative territory, at 13 percentage points. By contrast, NSW Liberal Premier, Mike Baird, has a net satisfaction rating of plus 40.

Queensland Labor has improved its primary vote from 32 per cent to 36 per cent in this Newspoll, while the Greens are stable on 10 per cent. Half of Labor’s four-point gain in its primary vote has come at the expense of the LNP, the rest coming from minor parties, most likely the Palmer United Party.

The PUP seems to have peaked after at one stage threatening to win seats on the Gold and Sunshine coasts.

The LNP has been beset by a public bout of infighting over preselections, most notably in Moggill, where former AMA president Christian Rowan only defeated the incumbent, former minister Bruce Flegg, with the support of the party’s administrative wing.

The government has brought the budget under control and will return the state to surplus in 2015-16. But there remains widespread concerns about high unemployment, especially in regional cities, Cairns, Townsville and Mackay, where it is between 8 and 10 per cent.