Letter To My MLA

Dear Mrs Harvey

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/bid-to-break-wa-bikie-gangs/story-e6frg143-1226193506235

I write to you as my local Member of the Legislative Assembly in response to the story linked to above which ran on the Perthnow website yesterday. It concerns the reported move of the State Government to target outlaw bikie gangs with tougher sentences than would apply to any other member of the West Australian community.
I should state at the outset that I am not now, and have never been, a member of a bikie gang. I am not a supporter of bikie gangs and I am extremely concerned at the damage they do within our society, primarily through their supply of illicit drugs which eats a society away from within. Having said this, I am outraged at the proposal attributed to the government. The bedrock of any legitimate justice system is that its laws and penalties apply equally to all citizens from the lowest through to the most powerful, including the Premier and leaders of business. I find it alarming that such an important foundation principle is in the process of being eroded. If the current penalties for certain crimes are considered inadequate then they should be increased, but must still apply equally to anyone who commits the crime. I firmly believe that by legislating the unequal treatment of certain groups under the law we are starting down an historically dangerous path; a path we must avoid.

Whilst I appreciate you have certain party obligations with regard to this legislation, I would ask you as my voice in parliament to make it known that regular community members with no link to bikie gangs whatsoever are outraged and extremely worried by where this proposed course of action is taking us as a community.

Yours sincerely,