The ACT police minister has pushed back against the opposition's renewed calls for tough new anti-bikie laws legal experts have labelled "blunt instruments".
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The opposition renewed calls for anti-consorting laws similar to other jurisdictions following Canberra's third bikie-related shooting in a fortnight on Tuesday morning.
Anti-consorting laws previously proposed in the ACT would make it an offence to associate with convicted criminals with no right to appeal the decision in an ACT court.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, police minister Mick Gentleman said he was alarmed by the recent spate of bikie activity but was concerned about the human rights aspect of anti-consorting laws.
"I haven't received any evidence to see that they would work in the ACT," Mr Gentleman said.
"It's the human rights of innocent Canberrans that could come into play, so that's the concern that we have."
ACT shadow attorney-general Jeremy Hanson said on Tuesday he wasn't concerned with the rights of criminals.
University of NSW Law associate professor Gabrielle Appleby said anti-consorting laws were a blunt instrument raising serious human rights concerns.
"They represent significant restrictions on freedom of association, freedom of political communication, which is fundamental to our democracy and restrict entirely innocent individuals," Ms Appleby said.
"The anti-consorting laws are this nice blunt instrument."
She also raised concerns about the transparency surrounding implementing anti-consorting laws, with some jurisdictions allowing police to tender their evidence for the charge in secret court proceedings.
Ms Appleby pointed to how the first use of anti-consorting laws in Queensland saw a librarian with no criminal history jailed for associating with two bikies in 2013.
Their first use in NSW, Ms Appleby said, saw an intellectually disabled man jailed after meeting with his bikie friends in 2012.
The librarian, Sally Kuether, was eventually only fined $150 and the NSW man, Charlie Maxwell Forster, eventually had the conviction set aside.
In 2016, the ACT's Human Rights Commissioner Dr Helen Watchirs told the government she opposed the then-proposed anti-consorting laws, saying they went beyond combating organised crime.
"Offences that criminalise the act of associating with a particular class of individual should have no place in a modern democratic society," Dr Watchirs said.
A report by the NSW Ombudsman in 2016 found the NSW anti-consorting laws had been used to unfairly attack the homeless, Aboriginal people and people aged under 17.
The Ombudsman later suggested the laws be repealed.
Mr Gentleman said he was looking at giving ACT police greater search powers as well as new anti-fortification laws and laws relating to unexplained wealth.
The search powers would look at lowering the minimum threshold of suspicion required for police to search houses and vehicles.
"I actually live in the next suburb to the latest incident too, so I have strong concerns," Mr Gentleman said.
