Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion put forward by the member for Fowler, a ferocious advocate for the 56,000 police throughout Australia. This nation observes National Police Remembrance Day on 29 September. It is a sad but important opportunity to honour those police officers who have given their lives serving our community. The National Police Memorial here in Canberra honours the 757 police who have died in service; 29 of those from Queensland. The first of those officers was Constable Joseph Luker of Sydney, who died on duty in 1803. In Queensland our police service history spans 131 years. In 1864 there were 143 people employed in the Queensland police force. Currently, there are more than 15,000, with around 10,000 being on-duty police officers.

This year also marks 100 years of women in policing. In Queensland women have been employed since 1931. Initially, their main duties were assisting female suspects and prisoners. It was not until 1965 that the first women were sworn into the force. They initially had no power of arrest, and their duties mainly involved women and children. Later that year, 50 years ago, an act was passed giving policewomen the same powers as policemen.

The Queensland police, like all states and territories, has been an evolving body. As mechanisation and technology have changed, so too has the police force. In 1934, with the widespread adoption of the motor car, a motor garage was built in Brisbane to maintain the motor vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles. The buildings that stabled the police horses and equipment were taken over for that purpose, and it was at that time that the mounted police force moved from the city out to Oxley, in my electorate of Moreton.

In fact, Morton was very important in the development of the Queensland police force. In 1969 the Chelmer College at Laurel Avenue was established as a training complex for 27 live-in students right alongside the river. In 1972 the Queensland Police Academy at Oxley was completed. Along with the facility in Townsville, these are still the two major police training venues in Queensland.

There have been many changes to policing over the 131 years that the Queensland police force has been operating: traffic police became essential; fingerprinting; the use of radio necessitated the erection of a police wireless station in the grounds of the police depot at Petrie Terrace; central communications became operable in 1951; and, with modern communications, social media and computing, policing has changed enormously, even in the last decade.

The men and women who make our modern police force are brave and decent people. On National Police Remembrance Day we honour those brave men and women who have given their lives in their service to our country. I mentioned earlier that the first officer to die on duty was Constable Luker, who died in 1803. There have been 756 deaths in the course of duty in Australia since then.

I would also, on this occasion of the centenary of World War I, like to remember and honour those brave policemen who died on active service during the First World War. There are 30 of them in total—brave officers who were exempt from enlisting due to their occupation but who took the leave of absence to join up. There were 66 officers out of 1,112 enlisted with the permission of the police force. We remember those 30 or more Queensland police officers who died in the Great War as well as those who have died in the service of keeping the good order in our community.

One of the 757 police officers named on the National Police Memorial in Canberra was killed while on duty in my electorate of Moreton. His name is Constable Douglas George Gordon. I would like to tell you his story. On 27 March 1968 at 5.05 am, Constable Gordon was called to the Oxley Ambulance Station where a man, Mr Stabe, was causing a disturbance. The man's wife had bruising to her face and a wound near her ear. The ambulance officer advised that the wound would need to be stitched. The man insisted that the wound was nothing to worry about. Before being conveyed to hospital by ambulance, Mrs Stabe requested that Constable Gordon follow her home while she packed some clothes. Constable Gordon, sensing that Mrs Stabe's husband might be volatile, called for assistance. At the house, Constable Gordon was joined by another officer from the Inala police station. Both officers followed Mrs Stabe into her bedroom. Constable Douglas Gordon and the other officer were standing in the room when they saw Mr Stabe kneel down and reach under the bed. Before either of them could react, Mr Stabe had pulled out a rifle and shot Constable Gordon, mortally wounding him. He pointed the gun at the stomach of the other officer, who, fortunately, was able to grab the barrel of the rifle, grapple with Mr Stabe and handcuff him. Mr Stabe was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

We honour Constable Douglas George Gordon, along with the other brave officers who have died in the service of this nation. Constable Gordon died protecting a woman from her violent husband. That is one of the bravest acts of all. I support the whip's motion. Lest we forget. (Time expired)

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