CONTROVERSIAL consorting laws introduced by the NSW government to target bikie gangs are valid, the High Court has found.
The legislation was introduced in 2012 in response to a wave of gun violence involving bikies and organised crime groups and made it an offence for anyone to associate with convicted criminals repeatedly.
Under the laws, any person who habitually consorts with offenders convicted of a serious offence, after having been given an official warning, is guilty of an offence and can face three years in jail or a $16,500 fine.
Three men — two members of the Nomads outlaw motorcycle gang and an intellectually disabled youth — mounted a challenge on the grounds the laws infringed the implied right to freedom of association and freedom of political communication in the constitution.
The plaintiffs also argued the laws were at odds with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as ratified by the federal government.
Last Wednesday, the High Court by a majority upheld the validity of the legislation.
The court accepted that it effectively burdens the implied freedom of communication about government and political matters.
But a majority of the seven judges held that it was not invalid because it was "reasonably appropriate and adapted, or proportionate, to serve the legitimate end of the prevention of crime" in Australia's system of government.
It also held there is no implied freedom of association independent of the implied freedom of communication in the constitution.
The court unanimously concluded that the provisions of the ICCPR, where not incorporated in Commonwealth legislation, impose no constraint upon the power of a state parliament to enact contrary legislation.
Consorting laws were originally introduced in 1929 to combat the notorious inner-city "razor gangs" of Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh in Darlinghurst, but had fallen into disuse.
The High Court case was brought by convicted killer and head of the Nomads bikie gang Sleiman Tajjour and fellow bikie Justin Hawthorne.
In 2007, Tajjour was convicted alongside his brother Mouhamed Tajjour and cousin Michael Ibrahim of the manslaughter of Robin Nassaur in an apartment basement car park at Chiswick in Sydney's inner-west.
The two Nomads were joined by Charlie Forster, an intellectually disabled 21-year-old from Inverell, in northern NSW, who was charged with consorting while grocery shopping with his housemate.
NSW Attorney-General Brad Hazzard welcomed the decision.
"The anti-consorting laws give police the powers they need to disrupt and dismantle criminal organisations, including outlaw motorcycle gangs," Mr Hazzard said.
"It is not surprising that criminals don't like the laws and wanted them overturned, but today's decision in the High Court ensures they are here to stay."
What do you think of the new consorting laws?
