Queensland fuehrer Campbell Newman and his unlovable lackey vigilante general Jarrod Bleijie have something to brag about. Statistics published by the Department of Justice [sic!] show that the number of people in Queensland jails has risen from 5,600 in June last year – a figure that had remained stable for the last decade – to 6,432. This is a Queensland record and comes at the cost of an extra $97 million annually.

Having fired 14,000 workers and scrapped valuable community services – including prisoner counselling service Sisters Inside – on the pretext of a lack of funds, the government might justifiably be thought of as run by hypocritical, self-serving liars waging a class war against the working class and poor. Bleijie defends the massive law and order outlay by arguing that “a bigger concern was the cost offenders were imposing on the community when they were not being punished appropriately”.

Given that the Prisoners’ Legal Service estimates at least 150 prisoners are forced to sleep without beds due to the influx, and that bikies will be imprisoned in solitary confinement and forced to wear pink jumpsuits, it’s difficult to see exactly what point Bleijie is trying to make about appropriate punishment.

By “offenders”, Bleijie is referring to the additional people to be locked up each year if the government proceeds with plans to abolish suspended sentences and court-ordered parole. Over the past three years, there have been some 41,000 people in those categories.

In case you weren’t feeling safer already, Queensland police cars will now be equipped with a Remington R4 .223 calibre carbine. This, they say, is because of gun battles between bikie gangs and police. While this may make for a good story, the complete absence of any actual gun battles puts it well and truly in the category of crime fiction.

One thing is sure though: having a powerful semi-automatic rifle in the boot will probably assist police in implementing new powers to search cars without a warrant. And don’t think about making a complaint if you feel your nearly non-existent rights are violated, because the police are no longer required to wear name badges while on duty.Luckily, there are promising signs of resistance. In response to a man being detained by five police officers for writing “I love bikies” in chalk on a West End footpath, hundreds have indicated support for an event to chalk up Brisbane’s streets with protest slogans.

After the Courier Mail attacked as “gutless” and “cowardly”an Anonymous video criticising the bikie laws, 300 took to the streets in protest on 5 November as part of Guy Fawkes Day.

Most importantly, a number of trade unions have publicised a “Rally for Rights”. The rally specifically links recent government attacks on workers’ compensation and long service leave with Newman’s war against civil liberties.

The involvement of workers’ organisations will help demarcate this as a working class issue and is central to any potential fight back against the government.