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
The Palaszczuk government delivers and it has been delivering for two years. We proved it this morning. We proved it over the last two years. It has been two years of hard work and achievements. This opposition is all slogan and no substance; all rhetoric and no delivery. When they said in government they would review something Queenslanders shook in their boots. They were terrified. They shuddered in their boots. Queensland knew that when the LNP in government said they would review something it would be bad news. Who could forget the Commission of Audit by their good friend Peter Costello? What did that review lead to? It led to thousands of job cuts and thousands of service cuts and program cuts all over our state.
When they say they will review something we know that it is bad news. Who could forget the Keelty review which led to senior police officer positions being cut? A total of 106 senior police officer positions were cut. Who could forget that as a result of the Keelty review the Public Safety Business Agency was set up as part of a sneaky plan to privatise, civilianise and outsource watch houses, speed camera operations and the police academies in Townsville and Brisbane. What else happened as a result of that review? Front-line police and emergency service officers were transferred to the PSBA away from the front line.
Who could forget their other review, the Aroney-Callinan report into the CMC, which some claim the former government used as a basis for nobbling key features of our integrity structures? Let us also not forget that when in government they reneged on their commitment to provide an extra $20 million for extra police and police training to patrol safe night out precincts, when they forced police officers to buy their own body worn cameras, when they set up a trial of automatic numberplate recognition but then failed to fund the rollout. Who could forget when they tried to strip two weeks leave away from sworn police officers? Who could forget when they refused to release annual crime statistics to let the people of Queensland know what was happening in their community? That was just the police portfolio. Speech They seemed to have a lot of ‘do’ when it comes to asset sales but not a lot of ‘do’ when it comes to infrastructure delivery. Who could forget that their only piece of major infrastructure was their ego-stroking, over-the-top tower of power—that great deal which the member for Clayfield bestowed on the good people of Queensland?
Let us compare their record to our record. What I see is a government of delivery and a government of action. As I told the House this week, let us have a look at what we have done. We have rolled out 2,700 body worn video cameras to our front-line police. We have provided police with funding for QLite iPads, which means less time for our police behind their desks and more time out in the community. We have increased funding for organised crime by almost $40 million. We have passed— and they always like it when I say this—the strongest, toughest, most comprehensive organised crime laws in the nation which target all forms of organised crime—outlaw motorcycle gangs, child sex exploitation networks, fraud and boiler room scams. Then there is Taskforce Maxima, which we continue to support and which continues to make arrests—133 arrests over just the last two months. We have provided police with more resources to tackle child sex exploitation in a statewide blitz and we have passed stronger counterterrorism laws. Only today we announced the biggest reform to parole in Queensland’s history—more resources, better laws and a better framework to ensure that we keep Queensland safe.