BIKIE gangs, knives and violent crime in local neighbourhoods have leapt from the state to the federal political arena, as both major parties outlined tough-on-crime policies.
Citing last year's bikie gang attack at Sydney Airport as evidence of a growing threat, the Coalition yesterday pledged to make ''disturbingly high'' knife crime and bikie gang activity a national issue.
A US-style violent gangs database would be set up to track gangs across state borders, and a violent gangs squad set up within the Australian Crime Commission, the Coalition said.
In a $179 million package, more weapons would be outlawed, more metal detectors issued to police and minimum penalties imposed an anyone found carrying a knife.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the rise of major gangs associated with drug distribution rackets and ''horrific outbreaks of violence'' required federal government intervention in a policing area traditionally dealt with by the states.
''Gangs are responsible for a significant and growing percentage of crime in Australia, and the gangs operate on a national basis, they don't just operate on a state and local basis,'' said Mr Abbott in Melbourne.
Across town, Labor said it was moving to restrict the types of weapons that can be imported, and had agreed with state police ministers to move to uniform knife laws.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on radio: ''We want to crack down on knife crime … and we will work with police around the country. Knife crime worries people.''
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said customs had stopped 16,700 knives at the border last year, but the government could ''always … be tougher''.
Mr Abbott accused the federal government of stripping the Australian Crime Commission of investigating officers who could make arrests, and failing to deliver a promised 500 more Australian Federal Police positions. The Coalition said it would shift 200 state and federal police into the commission and also pledged to pay for the training of replacement officers within those forces.
Labor responded that the commission already maintained a register of gang members as part of its intelligence operations.
Mr O'Connor said a Labor government would spend $200 million to fund 500 more AFP places by 2012, and had put another 280 police ''on the ground''. Laws had also been passed to allow police to seize gang money. ''Mr Abbott is planning to take frontline police off the streets of Australian cities and towns and put them behind desks in Canberra,'' he said.
Australian Federal Police Association chief executive Jim Torr attended the Coalition's policy launch, and said he supported the plan, but it was imperative the boost to the commission did not leave the federal police with fewer officers.
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