ABSTRACT
The constitutional design of Australia is such that criminal justice has largely been the province of the States. Thus, the mainstays of State election campaigns are the respective ‘law and order’ policies of the incumbent government and the opposition. In South Australia, the current Labor government, led by Premier Mike Rann, has been determined not to be perceived weaker on law and order than the Liberal opposition. Legislative change in advance of, or in reaction to, media and public outcry has been swift. Haydon Manning has described Premier Rann as ‘assiduously appeal[ing] to popular prejudice for his tough and almost perpetual campaign on law and order’.2 The highest profile of the law and order campaigns in South Australia has been the ongoing feud between the Rann government and outlaw motorcycle gangs (bikies). The latest development in this area, the ‘Bikie Bill’ or Serious and Organised Crime (Control) Act 2008 (SA) (SOCCA) is the focus of this chapter. The SOCCA goes beyond traditional law and order punishment for proven crim-
inal activity, to surveillance and preventive measures which involve reliance upon ‘criminal intelligence’ information rather than traditional evidence. It has adopted the mechanism of control orders previously used in the federal anti-terrorism legislation. While the SOCCA is in response to bikie violence, it is important to note that its reach potentially extends to youth gangs, prison gangs, drug syndicates and other more innocuous groups. In short, while the rhetoric surrounding the SOCCA is aimed at bikies, on its face it is not so limited.3
