Kay Elson (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in this House today to call on state and territory governments around the country to do more to protect our police officers. The murder of Constable Brett Irwin quite recently in Brisbane, while he was on duty, should act as a catalyst for change because it is a clear indication of the ongoing dangers our police officers face. To Mr Irwin’s family, I extend the condolences of everyone in this parliament. My husband, David, served as a police officer for many years, and I know Mr Irwin’s family are living through every police family’s worst nightmare. The story might have disappeared from the newspapers, but the Irwin family are still living with it every day.

When Brett Irwin was killed, he was out answering a call for help. Our police officers do this every hour of every day of every week. They serve their communities in so many important ways and are literally on the front line on a daily basis. It used to be the case that the public, and especially young people, knew that police were off limits, that you did not dare even speak out of turn to a police officer, let alone strike or target them. Sadly, that is not the case these days.

Last year, 123 people in Queensland were sent to prison for assaulting a police officer, another 72 received wholly suspended jail sentences and 15 were placed on intensive correction orders. Despite the fact that the Queensland government legislated last year to make spitting, biting and throwing bodily fluids at police officers a serious assault, with a maximum sentence of seven years, most of these offenders received sentences of between six months and three years. It is clearly not enough to send the hands-off message.

While someone is being jailed every three days for attacking a police officer, as the Queensland Minister for Police and Corrective Services proudly said in a media release, the fact is that that means that a serving officer is being seriously attacked every three days while doing his job. It is even more frequent when you take into account those who did not get sent to prison for that offence. I believe mandatory sentencing is necessary to send clear messages that we will not tolerate attacks on our police officers.

The Police Union stated recently that over 400 police officers have left the police force over the past 12 months. All this is experience lost—and it costs a lot of money to train a policeman. It does not send a very positive message to anyone considering joining the police force. We have to get this message through; otherwise, the situation will get seriously worse rather than better and there will be a shortage of policemen and women protecting our community. It will mean big problems in the way we manage law and order in our community in the future.

This Sunday is the Queensland Police Union Pride in Policing Day. More than 2,000 police officers are expected to march for better pay and work conditions and more severe penalties for violence against them. They are standing for mandatory sentencing. They would also like the supply of a helicopter, which seems quite reasonable. They will be led by Constable Grant Sampson, who suffered serious head injuries when he was hit on the head by a bottle as he gave first aid to a man attacked by gatecrashers at a party in June, next to my electorate. What sort of person hits someone who is giving aid to someone else? This displays blatant disregard for the uniform and shows that the police need tougher and mandatory sentencing.

The public have to know that when they make a decision to strike a police officer there will be consequences—no ifs and no buts. There will be no judge making a discretionary decision to let them off because they were drunk or have had a hard life. An attack on a police officer needs to have serious consequences. I know that most attacks on officers are a spur of the moment thing, but if people know in the back of their minds that there are serious consequences, I do believe they will think twice. We owe it to our officers to let them know that when they go out there in the community to maintain law and order and to protect and serve their fellow citizens, they themselves will be protected by as stringent laws as possible.

I ask all state and territory governments around the country to introduce mandatory sentencing for this most serious of crimes. If we do not protect our police officers then we are allowing lawlessness to drop to even lower levels. Our police officers deserve our protection. We cannot legislate for every situation they face, but let us get serious and introduce mandatory minimum sentencing for those thugs who attack them. Let us bring back the belief that it is ‘hands off’ our police force.