A man arrested for meeting his alleged bikie brother in public says the laws he was charged under are flawed and he is now facing up to three years' jail.
A man who was arrested under Queensland's controversial anti-bikie laws says he risks being sent back to jail if he goes to the corner store with his brothers.
Joshua Carew was one of five men dubbed the "Yandina 5" who were arrested in December for meeting a month earlier at a pub at Yandina in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
He spent Christmas in jail after he was considered a bikie associate under the new laws and was bailed earlier this month.
Police allege his brother Steven Smith and business partner Paul Lansdowne are members of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang.
Carew says he met with the pair, his other brother Scott Conley and another man Dan Whale to deliver a pizza and was arrested several weeks later.
Under the new laws, he is not allowed to meet with his brothers in public.
"On the lounge at home's good, but if we get in the car together to drive to the corner store, nup," he told Brisbane's Triple M radio station.
Carew said while he understood the reasoning behind the laws, it was flawed and meant anyone who was seen with someone suspected of being a bikie could be arrested.
"If you're at a friend's barbecue and your friend has a moment in the prior week... and kills someone, that doesn't make you an associate of the murder," he said.
"You didn't participate in what he did in his own time.
"I don't participate in what they do in their own time."
Carew said their case was a major talking point at an Australia Day rally in Brisbane protesting the new laws, where t-shirts calling for the Yandina 5 to be freed had sold well.
He said he is facing between six months and three years in jail if found guilty of associating with a bikie.
"It seems sort of a bit surreal," he said.
The Yandina 5's trial has been set down for March.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/01/28/brothers-cant-meet-under-anti-bikie-laws
A man who was arrested under Queensland's controversial anti-bikie laws says he risks being sent back to jail if he goes to the corner store with his brothers.
Joshua Carew was one of five men dubbed the "Yandina 5" who were arrested in December for meeting a month earlier at a pub at Yandina in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
He spent Christmas in jail after he was considered a bikie associate under the new laws and was bailed earlier this month.
Police allege his brother Steven Smith and business partner Paul Lansdowne are members of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang.
Carew says he met with the pair, his other brother Scott Conley and another man Dan Whale to deliver a pizza and was arrested several weeks later.
Under the new laws, he is not allowed to meet with his brothers in public.
"On the lounge at home's good, but if we get in the car together to drive to the corner store, nup," he told Brisbane's Triple M radio station.
Carew said while he understood the reasoning behind the laws, it was flawed and meant anyone who was seen with someone suspected of being a bikie could be arrested.
"If you're at a friend's barbecue and your friend has a moment in the prior week... and kills someone, that doesn't make you an associate of the murder," he said.
"You didn't participate in what he did in his own time.
"I don't participate in what they do in their own time."
Carew said their case was a major talking point at an Australia Day rally in Brisbane protesting the new laws, where t-shirts calling for the Yandina 5 to be freed had sold well.
He said he is facing between six months and three years in jail if found guilty of associating with a bikie.
"It seems sort of a bit surreal," he said.
The Yandina 5's trial has been set down for March.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/01/28/brothers-cant-meet-under-anti-bikie-laws