NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to introduce national anti-bikie laws, saying this would prevent them being overturned in the High Court.
The NSW government on Tuesday introduced new anti-gang laws into parliament, more than six months after 2009 laws were struck down by the High Court following a challenge by the Hells Angels.
The new legislation will fix a loophole in the Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act 2009, a law which gives police the power to apply to the Supreme Court to have a gang outlawed.
Under the changes, Supreme Court judges will now have to give reasons for outlawing a gang, addressing a key concern raised by the High Court.
Mr O'Farrell said while Attorney-General Greg Smith had received advice that the new legislation would withstand a High Court challenge, national laws were the "only way to guarantee" state laws would not be struck down.
"(We are putting) in legislation that we believe to the best of our ability will not be successfully challenged in the High Court," Mr O'Farrell said.
"But what Julia Gillard should be doing today, rather than worrying about the leadership challenge from Kevin Rudd, is getting drafted national outlaw motorcycle gang laws to stop this being a problem in the future.
"Because guess what? Outlaw motorcycle gangs are cashed up because of their illegal activities. They will mount further challenges to any state that legislates.
"The best way to guarantee that legislation can't be challenged by the High Court is to have national legislation."
Wayne Baffsky, the lawyer who acted for Sydney Hells Angel Derek Wainohu in the successful High Court challenge, said the updated law would be self-defeating.
"I haven't seen the laws yet so I don't know how bad they're going to be," he told AAP.
"But I can be confident that they are going to be unnecessary and probably self-defeating like the previous law."
NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson said the premier had been dragged and shamed into re-introducing the anti-bikie laws, and should have acted sooner in response to the spate of Sydney drive-by shootings.
"We have been calling on Barry O'Farrell to recall parliament since early January because the police need all the support and all the laws they can get to deal with this issue," Mr Robertson said.
Greens MP David Shoebridge described the proposed laws as "a further step in the wrong direction" and said there was a good chance the High Court would again reject them.
"This new law will likely do little to address gang violence and end up being a distraction from the real task of targeting gangs existing criminal activity."
Meanwhile, South Australia's Attorney-General John Rau has also promised to introduce tough new laws to crack down on bikie-related violence in the state.
They include re-formulating legislation to tackle outlaw gangs after the High Court struck it down in 2010, delivering a significant knock to former premier Mike Rann's vow to rid the state of bikies.
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