Easyriders Australia SMC Ipswich Chapter

The first step is for the Commissioner of Police to make an Application to the Attorney General for a declaration, i.e a declaration that a certain group is a  criminal organisation.  The organisation does not have to be an incorporated body, and it does not have to be based in South Australia, and may consist of people who are not ordinarily resident in South Australia.

The Commissioner of Police must put a Notice in a paper with circulation throughout the State advising that they are making an application for a declaration, and interested persons/groups etc will have 28 days to make submissions in regard to that Application.  This means that members of the public are entitled to make submissions within 28 days of the Notice appearing in the paper. 

Information that the Commissioner provides to the Attorney General in support of the Application will not be provided to any other party if it has been classified as "criminal intelligence".  So,  submissions will need to be made in response to information the person making the submission is not actually aware of.

The things that the Attorney General must or may consider are set out in the Bill, and therefore should be referred to by parties making submissions.  The considerations include:

·                    Any information suggesting a link exists between an organisation and serious criminal activity;

·                    Any criminal convictions recorded in relation to current or former members of the organisation; or persons who associate or have associated with members of the organisation.

·                    Any information suggesting that current or former members of the organisation, or persons who associate or have associated with members of the organisation have been or are involved in serious criminal activity, whether directly or indirectly and whether or not such involvement has resulted in any criminal convictions;

·                    Any information suggesting members of an interstate or overseas chapter or branch of the organisation associate for the purpose of organising, planning, facilitating, supporting or engaging in serious criminal activity;

·                    Any submissions received from members of the public in relation to the Application;

·                    Any other matter the Attorney General considers relevant. 

The Attorney General may be satisfied that members of an organisation associate for the purpose of organising, planning, facilitating, supporting or engaging in serious criminal activity:

·                     whether or not all members associate for that purpose or only some;

·                     whether or not the members associate for that purpose in regard to the same  serious criminal activities or different ones; and

·                      whether or not the members also associate for other purposes.

The "facts" that are relied upon only have to be proven on the balance of probabilities - as opposed to the Criminal Jurisdiction burden of proof, beyond a reasonable doubt.


If the Attorney General makes a Declaration that an organisation is a "declared organisation", i.e. an organisation that participates in, plans, facilitates, or engages in "serious criminal activity" then Members of that organisation may be subjected to Control Orders, limiting who they can associate with and where they can go etc.

The legality or validity of a Declaration can not be challenged or questioned in any proceedings and cannot be the subject of a judicial review.  Once the Declaration is made the only person who can vary it or revoke it is the Attorney General.

The Act does not allow any judicial discretion when it comes to making Control Orders as against members of a declared organisation, the Act states that if the Commissioner makes an Application the Court must make a Control Order on a member of a declared organisation. 

However, the law also applies to people who have been members in the past, or to people who associate with Members of declared organisations.   But the Court has some discretion in this area, the Court may make a control order if it is satisfied that the person has been a member of an organisation or engages or has engaged in serious criminal activity and regularly associates with members of a declared organisation. 

The Court may also make a Control Order against a person who engages or has engaged in serious criminal activity and regularly associates with other persons who engage or have engaged in serious criminal activity.   Note that this does not require the individual to be associated with any particular organisation.

Interestingly, an Application for a Control Order does not have to be notified to the person who it will apply to.  Once the Application is granted, the Control Order must be served upon the person and the rules in regard to service are different under this Act than under usual methods of service of summonses etc.  For example, the Order can be served on the person anywhere, and if the person serving it has reason to believe that the person is on certain premises then it can be left there in a prominent area, rather than be served upon the person personally.