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This chapter charts the growth of the outlaw motorcycle gang culture through Africa and the Middle East. These regions did not see outlaw clubs in the 20th century other than some ex-patriate clubs formed in Middle East mining communities. The exception was South Africa in which club formation was similar to other Commonwealth nations such as Australia and Canada. However, these were entirely white clubs. Since then local men have taken up the culture with enthusiasm in almost every nation in the middle east and increasingly in Africa as locals have sufficient wealth to buy the motorcycles. Similarly, the large international clubs, such as the Hells Angels and Bandidos, are forming chapters in these regions.

This chapter records the history of OMCG club growth in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). In 2013, OMCG members started to leave Queensland and New South Wales due to the strict organised crime and consorting legislation brought in to target OMCGs. The ACT government made it clear that it would not pass similar legislation due to, quite reasonable, concerns about human rights. However, this led to clubs seeing the ACT as a safe place to operate. This chapter is a history of club growth in the Territory from 2013 and the violence that ensued as the clubs fought for dominance.

This chapter discusses the nature of hierarchies of club control. It examines how club culture in a nation or state is controlled by one or more "dominant clubs" who decide whether clubs can obtain recognition as outlaw clubs. These same clubs compete for dominance and one tactic in this battle is to adopt local clubs as support clubs or create such clubs in the region. The chapter explains this process and the nature of the relationship between dominant and support clubs.

The Cape York Welfare Reform (CYWR) initiative aims to reduce ‘passive dependence’ on welfare and restore ‘positive social norms’ to revitalise cultural and social networks and support economic engagement in Indigenous communities in the Cape York Region of Australia. Critics of the initiative and, in particular, its income management (IM) policies have associated it with a broader neoliberal reform agenda that delineates social ‘problems’ from their historical and structural context. This paper discusses key qualitative findings from a strategic review of CYWR, paying particular attention to the ways in which Cape York IM (CYIM) straddles both Indigenous and settler social norms, while perpetuating neoliberal conceptualisations of welfare ‘dependency’. We situate these findings within the existing literature on Australia's other IM models and also consider them in relation to subsequent government responses to the review and associated policies. We argue that CYIM represents a unique initiative, the subtle nuances of which have been largely ignored or misunderstood by critics. Further, we conclude that any extension or revision of this initiative should be considered with respect to deep and wide‐ranging consultation of the Indigenous communities subject to CYWR. However, such consultation has not been the standard practice in Australian contexts.

Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are receiving increased attention by academics around the world. However, the field is in need of global data on how, when, where and why clubs form before any generalised conclusions can be drawn. This paper begins this process by attempting to identify every club that has formed in the world by location and date. 18 months of searching online through websites and social media identified 5072 separate clubs, which were then grouped by region and date. This data shows different trends of club formation in different regions. The data shows Western Nations formed clubs much earlier than other regions, but that Scandinavia, South America and East Asia are continuing to form new clubs at an increasing rate. Despite the USA being the country of origin of the culture, it only has 18% of all clubs. This paper concludes with suggestions for future research questions illuminated by the data, that try to explain the popularity of the culture and the environmental circumstances that lead to club formation.

Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) are identified in Australia and internationally as being heavily involved in organised crime and/or as being criminal organisations. However, academic studies have shown that OMCG members are involved in organised crime to varying extents; this differs between clubs and across jurisdictions. To date, Australian studies of OMCGs are rare. Despite this, Australian governments target OMCGs as key players in organised crime. This study contributes to the existing literature by analysing OMCGs’ criminality in one Australian jurisdiction – Queensland. It draws on rich qualitative data to determine whether and to what extent Queensland’s OMCGs are involved in serious crime, organised crime and/or are operating as criminal organisations. The study finds that Queensland’s OMCG members participate in serious crime at a higher rate than the general public, but that there are few examples of organised crime. There is little to no evidence of OMCGs acting as criminal organisations.

Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMCGs) in Australia are subject to over 30 pieces of legislation restricting the movement and association of members. The justification for these acts is the presumption that the OMCG are criminal organizsations. This presumption has not been proven empirically by government agencies nor tested by academic research partly due to the difficulty in obtaining sufficient information. This paper tests the presumption by analyzing the data contained in the Queensland Police Service’s application to the Supreme Court to list the Finks MC, Gold Coast, as a criminal organization.

Implemented in 2008, the Cape York Welfare Reform (CYWR) initiative aims to address passive dependence on welfare and commit people in the communities of Aurukun, Coen, Hope Vale, and Mossman Gorge to resume primary responsibility for the wellbeing of their families and their communities. This review examines one aspect of CYWR—income management (IM). Under the Cape York IM (CYIM) model, IM is administered by the Department of Human Services based on the guidance and decisions of the Family Responsibilities Commission (FRC). Ultimately, only a relatively small proportion of FRC clients have ever been subject to a CYIM order. At its peak in 2008– 2009 the percentage of FRC clients placed on a CYIM order was 20.7%, a figure which has declined annually to the 2017- 2018 figure of 7.7%. This review seeks to understand the impact of CYIM over the past ten years (2008 –2018) in the original CYWR communities (i.e. excluding Doomadgee 1 ), drawing on available qualitative and quantitative data (e.g. qualitative accounts in the existing literature, FRC reports and FRC client data). Cape York communities are looking to make a decision about evolving from CYWR towards new arrangements based on the empowerment/development model. There is an expectation from communities that this review will inform a decision about the future of welfare quarantining in Cape York and what role the current CYIM approach can/should have in any future models. Different communities have different needs and may come to different conclusions. CYIM is unique and, thus, conclusions arising from this review may not be able to be transferred to IM in other contexts. In fact, many of the conclusions depend on the unique IM delivery system that is peculiar to the CYIM model, rather than simply IM alone.

Queensland’s organised crime legislation grants police wide discretionary authority to issue consorting warnings which can criminalise associations. The Act does not require evidence that the association is connected to a criminal activity before the warning can be issued. This article applies Schneider’s theory of discretion and rules to these laws to demonstrate that they lack the appropriate “mixture” of the two. They excessively favour discretion, creating a substantial risk that the disadvantages of discretion will eventuate and the advantages of rules will be undermined. Moreover, it is likely that vulnerable groups will be disproportionately affected by the laws. A clear rule requiring a nexus between the association and a criminal activity would mitigate these risks, while still facilitating police in preventing serious and organised crime. This finding is relevant to Queensland and other Australian jurisdictions that have or are considering implementing comparable consorting offences.

This chapter takes a close look at crimes by organisations which are not legally established; such as outlaw motorcycle gangs and gangs that are founded on ethnicity and indigeneity. The authors discuss how Australia and New Zealand have responded to these organisations and what outcomes resulted from these responses. They provide the history of the groups and their culture. In doing so, they address the misconceptions about the nature and operation of the “gangs” especially in relation to their participation in serious criminal activity.