A full record of Mark's Speeches are available at www.parliament.qld.gov.au
A full record of Mark's Speeches are available at www.parliament.qld.gov.au
I oppose the motion. What a ridiculous motion that this House has to consider today. All we have to do is look at the past two years of our government. There are more police on the beat than ever before. There are more resources for police than ever before. There are more prisoners in our correctional centres than ever before. We have the toughest, strongest, most comprehensive, effective and working serious organised crime legislation in the nation. We have tough new counterterrorism laws—laws which the LNP did not oppose.
We have tough new child protection laws—laws which they did not oppose. The fact is that our government has been taking strong action not only to support our police but also to ensure that our communities remain safe and that our police have the resources they need to ensure that our community remains safe. The fact is that, irrespective of who you are, if you commit a crime in Queensland, you will feel the full force of the law—no ifs, no buts.
When I travel around our state and meet with our hardworking police officers, I firstly thank them for the job that they do—because it is a tough job, and it is especially tough when those opposite continually criticise the work they do every single day—but I also commend them for their courage and professionalism in helping to keep our community safe. I tell them to keep going. Notwithstanding the criticism they receive from those opposite, I tell them to keep going because the work they are doing is helping to keep our community safe and they will always have the support of the Palaszczuk Labor government in the work that they do.
The numbers speak for themselves. Our government has delivered record budgets when it comes to supporting our police. What is more, we have delivered specific, additional resources for particular areas of crime to support our police. We have seen $39.1 million delivered to tackle all forms of serious organised crime, including child exploitation and drug trafficking among others. We have injected an additional $16 million to enhance our counterterrorism capabilities. Over the last two years, we have delivered an extra 266 police to the beat here in Queensland.
What is more, with those additional police that we have delivered, we have also made sure they are properly resourced—not like those opposite who, when in government, failed to provide the resources our police needed to do their job. They failed to provide body worn cameras, they failed to provide QLiTE and they failed to provide additional police vehicles. That is their record. Our record is one of supporting our police. We have not only rolled out over 2,500 body warn cameras—which not only help our police with the work they do but also contribute to community safety—but we have also rolled out QLiTE. These are the Apple iPads for our police officers which allow them to do more work on the beat, to be more effective and to be more visible on the street, rather than being stuck behind a desk doing paperwork.
I mentioned in my introduction that we have more prisoners in our correctional centres than ever before. I make no apologies for that, because if someone commits a crime in Queensland then they will feel the full force of the law and they will be incarcerated. I also want to take this opportunity to commend and thank our hardworking correctional officers for the work they do. Not only do they work very hard every day to ensure our correctional centres stay safe, but they are contributing to the overall safety of the people of Queensland.
Members opposite absolutely hate hearing this, but the fact of the matter is that we have the strongest, toughest, most comprehensive and effective organised crime legislation in the nation. When we hear them criticise me for saying it, let’s see who also says that we have the strongest, toughest, most comprehensive serious organised crime legislation: the Police Commissioner. When they criticise me for saying it, they are criticising the Police Commissioner. Who else says that? Queensland Police Union President Ian Leavers says it. When they criticise me, they are criticising the Queensland Police Union President. One of our hardest working organised crime police officers, Superintendent Mick Niland, the commander of Taskforce Maxima, says our laws are working, they are effective and they are disbanding organised crime. When they criticise me, they are also criticising Superintendent Mick Niland.
The fact of the matter is our government is delivering on a safer Queensland, supporting our police and making sure that our community is safe.