Rudd rules out any future challenge

Former Labor leader Kevin Rudd has ruled out any return to the leadership. Source: AAP

KEVIN Rudd says there are now "no circumstances" under which he would return to the Labor leadership.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard called a spill of the Labor leadership on Thursday, but Mr Rudd did not challenge despite caucus members urging him to do so.

He said to AAP through a spokesman on Friday that he had been consistent that he would not challenge for the leadership and that he would contest the next election as a local member of parliament.

"That position hasn't changed," the spokesman said.

"Furthermore, Mr Rudd wishes to make 100 per cent clear to all members of the parliamentary Labor Party, including his own supporters, that there are no circumstances under which he will return to the Labor Party leadership in the future."

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Nervous bikies fear bleak future

Legal threats and financial scrutiny has Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs questioning future operations. Source: AFP

BIKIE insiders fear the beginning of the end for outlaw motorcycle gangs, with a tax office crackdown adding to the threat of legal decapitation by police.

The Australian Taxation Office has clawed back $1.4 million in unpaid tax while raking over the cash flows of Australia's biggest bikie gang the Rebels, it was revealed this week.

That followed a flurry of legal queries by Queensland gangs wondering if they were next in police sights under the state's Criminal Organisation Act.

The first police target, the Finks on the Gold Coast, failed last week in a High Court challenge to the laws.

The High Court decision cleared the way for a Supreme Court trial later to decide if the purpose of the club was to engage in criminal conspiracy.

Criminal lawyer Adam Magill said two other outlaw clubs had contacted him.

Amid rumours the ink was dry on police applications against the Hells Angels and Bandidos, one bikie told The Courier-Mail: "I don't think a lot of club members realise the implications of (the High Court decision)."

"It's bad news . . . this has the possibility of changing the whole outlook in Queensland and will roll on into the other states."

One legal source predicted Brisbane's "Nike Bikies", the Bandidos Centro chapter, which was implicated in the drug murder of Jack Lee last year, would be the next police target.

Assistant Police Commissioner Mike Condon has rejected suggestions bikie clubs would be pushed underground by the new laws.

"Part of their mandate is to be present, to be seen, and to ensure that people that they may have issues with know what they're about," he said.

Mr Condon refused to say if applications against other gangs were being drawn up, but indicated police might in the future target "other criminal networks and outlaw motorcycle groups".

Mr Magill said police would already have the necessary criminal intelligence on other clubs but would test uncharted legal waters with the Finks before drafting another application.

Supreme Court Justice David Boddice last week said a seven-week trial - which will hinge on whether or not the purpose of the Finks was to engage in serious criminal conspiracy - would take place no earlier than mid-October.

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Fashionably saving for the future

Salvos Store Vintage Tee Day ... Sarah Dickinson and Mitchell Lawrance / Pic: Stuart Walmsley Source: The Daily Telegraph

IT'S not old, it's vintage - and it's going to help save the planet.

The Vintage Tee Day on Friday is part of the Salvos Store's push for sustainable fashion.

With the rise in popularity of second-hand shopping, the Salvos are encouraging people to dig around in someone else's wardrobe instead of buying something new.

With more than 200 stores nationwide, the Salvos recycle over 55,000 tonnes of goods and re-sell 6.39 million items of clothing every year, raising about $17 million for the Salvation Army.

The sustainability and waste manager for Salvos Stores, Donald Munro, says it takes between 1500 to 15,000 litres of water to make a single T-shirt.

"Every T-shirt is an investment of natural resources, one of which is water," he said.

Salvos Store CEO, Allen Dewhirst, said recycling contributed to less landfill. "We are hoping that we start this and other people will pick it up and run with it, like Earth Hour or Movember," he said.

Sarah Dickinson, 24, prefers vintage to new clothing.

"It's a unique look, I'm an avid vintage shopper because I don't like following trends," she said.

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