Tattooing Industry Control Bill 2015: SA clamps down on Bikies
Friday 30 October 2015 @ 11.21 a.m. | Crime
In early September, the South Australian Parliament introduced the Tattooing Industry Control Bill 2015 into the Legislative Assembly. The bill sets out to further regulate the South Australian tattooing industry to prevent criminal infiltration as part of the continued tackling of organised crimes.
Background to the Bill
The Bill was introduced to fulfil the Government’s election commitment to forbid organised crime gangs from owning or controlling tattoo parlours and using them as a front for illegal activities, such as drug trafficking, weapons trading and money laundering. The bill will address the escalating threat of violence, arson, and other property damage to legitimate businesses in this industry. It also attempts to provide greater protection to customers of businesses own by these organised crime gangs.
The Bill will introduce a negative licensing scheme for the tattooing industry. Essentially, the scheme will ensure that the regulatory impact upon legitimate businesses is minimal. As explained by South Australian Attorney General, John Rau, in his Second Reading Speech:
“Under the new scheme, it will be an offence, with a maximum penalty of 4 years imprisonment for a natural person or a $250, 000 fine for a body corporate, to provide tattooing services if disqualified from doing so. A person provides tattoo services if he or she (whether or not for fee or reward) tattoos another person; or carries on a business in the course of which he or she or another person tattoos a person; or is director of a body corporate that carries on a business in the course of which he or she or another person tattoos a person; or sells or supplies prescribed tattooing equipment.”
Disqualification will be automatic if a person is a member of a prescribed organisation or is a close associate of a person who is a member. The Commissioner of Consumer Affairs will also be given the power to disqualify a person where certain criteria are satisfied. This criterion include being a member of a prescribed organisation for any time within the preceding five years, or has been found guilty of a prescribed crime within the preceding five years. The Commissioner can also disqualify a person if the Commissioner reasonably believes it to be in the public interest to do so.
Reaction in Parliament and from the Public
Former Opposition leader, Isobel Redmond, told Parliament the law would criminalise people who had done nothing wrong:
"This Parliament has given up the rule of law and the separation of powers and once again this bill I believe offends deeply the idea of the rule of law and I want to place on the record my utter contempt for the attorney in bringing in such a bill as the attorney of this state."
Robert Cameron, a member of Gypsy Jokers, one of 10 clubs declared criminal organisations in the state under new anti-bikie laws, owns 2 tattoo studios in Adelaide:
"For me, my business will be closed down, I will never be able to tattoo again...I've been doing this for 28 years, I've been paying my taxes, I've owned my own business for 15 years."
There are also claims, made by ABC News, that many tattoo industry workers will also be out of a job if their workplace is forced to close under these laws.
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Sources:
Tattooing Industry Control Bill 2015 and secondary materials as reproduced in TimeBase LawOne
