News Service from House Harris

NSW: Bikie gangs won't be dismantled overnight: Scipione

SYDNEY, April 3 AAP - NSW's police chief says officers are moving to use new laws to crack down on bikie gangs, but warns results won't come overnight.

State parliament passed legislation late on Thursday allowing the police commissioner to make an application to the Supreme Court to have an outlaw motorcycle gang declared a criminal organisation.

Gang members who associate with each other can then be charged without warning and face at least two years in jail.

The laws passed parliament the same day they were introduced, as the government responded to escalating violence between warring gangs.

Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says an implementation team, under Deputy Commissioner Paul Carey, is looking at the legislation to identify what police need to do.

He has refused to put a timeframe on when police may seek the first declaration order, or name which organisation might be the first targeted.

"We'll move as quickly as possible to present evidence before a court," he said in a statement on Friday.

"But this is new legislation and it needs careful and exacting work to ensure we succeed."

Mr Scipione said police were gathering evidence against bikies and other gangs and had "plenty of material to move against them".

But he warned the problem of bikie gangs won't just disappear straight away.

"Disrupting, restricting and ultimately dismantling their criminal enterprise is a priority, but it can't happen overnight," Mr Scipione said.

"Destroying these gangs and their associates is a long-term strategy."

Premier Nathan Rees introduced the laws on Thursday, saying bikie gangs "crossed the line" by risking public safety with a vicious Sydney airport brawl that resulted in the death of Anthony Zervas, 29.

His brother, Hells Angel Peter Zervas, 32, is in a serious but stable condition at St George Hospital after being shot as he sat in a car outside a Sydney unit block on Sunday.

Five Comancheros bikies have been charged with affray over the March 22 airport brawl with the Hells Angels.

Police on Thursday raided the home of Comancheros president Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi, reportedly in hiding with a $100,000 contract on his head.

Despite reservations from some members, the laws passed with only independent MP Clover Moore voting against the bill in the lower house, and the four Greens MPs in the upper house.

The Greens had proposed an amendment that would have resulted in a two-year sunset clause for the laws and a proposal for the ombudsman to review them at the end of that period.

"Our amendments designed to protect the public while safeguarding civil rights were lost," Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said in a statement.

"The anti-gang legislation undermines the current rules of evidence, weakens the right of freedom of association and increases the possibility for police corruption."

Ms Rhiannon said both the government and the opposition ignored reservations the NSW Bar Association and the Law Society held about the laws.

The Law Society of NSW said police already had sufficient powers under the Crimes Act, and that the new legislation would only push criminal activity underground.