Steven Miles announces $20m upgrade for Bundaberg Police Station

Queensland Premier Steven Miles was welcomed to Bundaberg on Friday with news of a major upgrade planned for the Bundaberg Police Station.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles was joined by Member for Bundaberg Tom Smith and Minister for Police Mark Ryan to announce a $20 million upgrade to the Bundaberg Police Station.

The Queensland Premier Steven Miles was welcomed to Bundaberg on Friday to announce a $20 million upgrade to the police station.

Mr Miles was joined by Queensland Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski and Police Minister Mark Ryan.

“It will have greater watchouse capacity, investigation rooms, parking upgrades and new modern facilities for all those extra police coming to the Bundaberg,” Mr Miles said.

Labor Member for Bundaberg Tom Smith welcomed the news and said the investment would only improve the services offered at the station, and go a long way to support local police.

“We know police engage with many different community organisations that ensure that we’re providing the best support for those vulnerable people who are victims of crime across our region,” he said.

Mr Ryan thanked the ongoing encouragement of Mr Smith, whose advocacy work he said helped bring the investment into the Bundaberg region.

“I wanted to commend Tom as the local MP for advocating for his police and community safety,” he said.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles announced the $20 million upgrade at the Bundaberg Police Station.

“This station has served the community very well to date, but with the growth in numbers that have been delivered to this region in recent time, and the growth numbers to come an upgrades needed.”

It is expected the upgrades will enter a detailed planning stage over the next three to six months, with construction expected to begin in the new year.

Acting Commissioner Matthew Vanderbyl said during the planning stage the community would be consulted on the buildings final look.

“A key part of our development activities with large police stations in communities like this is it will engage with the community around the eventual design of the building, of the outside facade of the building and how it looks,” he said.

Mr Gollschewski said the upgrades will create the space for the Bundaberg region to take advantage of a recent rise in recruit numbers.

“We’re in a pretty good state when it comes to recruiting at the moment,” he said.

“We’ve now got over 2000 [recruits] in our pipeline, and we’ve got pushing towards 700 [recruits] in the academy at the moment, so we are in a great space.”

“You should see an additional 300 new officers before the 30th of June on our streets.”

Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the streets of Queensland could soon welcome more than 3o0 officers by the end of June.

The good news continued with Acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Massingham saying ongoing youth crime strategies had yielded positive results.

Mr Massingham confirmed in the nine months leading to March 2024, there had been an 18 per cent reduction in youth offending across the Wide Bay area.

He said many of the strategies were aimed at preventing youths from entering a life of crime, and targeting high risk youth.

Despite the positive news the Queensland Commissioner was asked to consider the recent crime wave targeting farmers in the Bundaberg region, and what message he had for local growers.

“What I will say to those sorts of people, please engage with your local police,” Mr Gollschewski said.

“Everyone should know who their local police officer is, particularly in those sort of remote areas.”

“First port of call, if you’re not feeling safe; engage with your police.”