Police have asked the Tweed and Byron Bay liquor accords to not admit motorcycle gang members who wear gang colours or related paraphernalia to their venues.
It’s a move that appears to be aimed not just at local gang members but those coming down from Queensland.
Byron Accord chair, Hannah Spalding, told The Echo that some venues already have such policies in place, and that ‘members of the Accord that were asked were happy to support the request.’
‘While we were one short of a quorum at the last Accord meeting, I expect it will be officially supported when we meet again in April.’
Meanwhile, Labor federal and state MPs Justine Elliot and Walt Secord are asking why north coast state Nationals MPs have been ‘denying the presence of bikie gangs,’ in light of the announcement.
Mr Secord said, ‘The comments by senior police are very embarrassing for National Party parliamentarians, who said that have repeatedly denied the presence of bikie gangs.’
The Byron Bay branch of the Nomads, whose venue recently burnt down, told Echonetdaily they would like the opportunity to address the accord before a decision is made.
Nomads spokesperson Maurice Brown said ‘there’s not much we can do about it but we would like to be invited to the Liquor Accord if they’re going to make a decision on us’.
‘All the country pubs love us, we cause no trouble, so why do Byron have a problem with us?’
Clubhouse fire
Mr Brown said the group was struggling to find a new clubhouse after its venue in the Arts & Industry Estate burnt down last month.
‘A lot of the media have been saying the place was firebombed but both the police and the fireys have ruled out arson,’ he said.
Mr Brown said the fire started in an artist’s studio, the centre of three Brigantine Street units, before spreading to the two side units, one of which was the Nomads’ Clubhouse.
‘This talk of arson has lead our insurance company to refuse to pay out and has caused us problems finding another venue in Byron,’ he told Echonetdaily.
Inspector Jim Kain from Tweed/Byron Local Area Command said the push to exclude bikies wearing colours was part of a statewide trend.
He confirmed that two club houses remaining in the region belong to the Mongols at Chinderah and Odin’s Warriors in South Tweed Heads.
Before people start protesting, there is logic to disallowing bike gang members from wearing their colours en masse in pubs. They have a habit of selecting a pub or venue as ‘theirs’, and wearing the colours is a way of proclaiming their territory, much as a dog marks its area of supremacy. This places the pub in the firing line, as has happened often before, when a rival gang decides to attack in one of their long drawn-out feuds of constant retaliation.
One pub I remember on the south coast took this step years ago, telling the bikies they were welcome to drink but to leave their colours outside. As I recall the bikies were happy with this arrangement.
Nomads would do a lot for their public relations image if they scrapped that swastika escutcheon in the centre of their coat of arms. Not a good look!
Rubbish
You seem to know a lot about dogs,not about bike CLUBS
wot a load of infantile twaddle…the frenzy of hysteria being whipped up by the media for the titillation of the “community” is not just bizarre..its downright disturbing.. so called govt (quango corporate posing as govt) depts are engaging in nothing less than ‘soft totalitarianism’. Create a fear then provide a solution..if ppl have a problem with someone else in the community that involves wot they believe is criminal activity then report it to the relevant authorities. Having said that, they’re probably too busy out there writing debt notices for rule violations (not law breaking mind) and feeding the courts with business so that the Office of State Revenue has some filthy moolah to park with their CEOS (sorry ministers and heads of depts-my mistake)-than to actually investigate the crime. Everyone is being led by this police state ‘soft totalitarianism’ up the garden path but are too frightened to stand up to it. Here we are in 2014-making extra judicial judgements about what ppl can or cannot wear, where they can drink, who they can drink with…Its all lies..lies bout drinking speeding drugs seat belts whatever And the suckers believe it!!…Infantilise everyone and their lives then rule over them…my old man fought in egypt in 1942 with his brothers for this? Really??