South West Queensland’s Laurie Bateman features on SBS series Our Law

A police officer from humble beginnings as a sheep shearer in southwest Queensland hopes to be a relatable role model on a docuseries.

Police officer, world-record holding shearer, 2024 Australian of the Year nominee, 2023 QBANK Everyday Hero and now television star, Constable Laurie Bateman’s list of achievements and accolades is tremendous.

Constable Bateman’s career has been anything but conventional, but perhaps it is precisely his ingenuity and creative approach to policing which has meant he has been able to be a positive force in some many people’s lives. Now, he hopes to help even more people by starring in series two of Our Law, an National Indigenous Television series.

When he was 15, Constable Bateman left school and took to shearing.

“As a young person in and out of school and such, I’d run into some trouble,” Constable Bateman said.

“Then as I found sheep shearing, I suppose, my sole attention came to that and I just gave it 100 per cent.”

As it turned out, Constable Bateman became a world-class sheep shearer, and to this day, he holds the Guinness World Record for the most wether sheep shorn in eight hours.

Laurie Bateman during his sheep shearing record breaking attempt in Hughenden in October 2007. Photo: Danielle Jesser.

Constable Bateman shore sheep for 26 years, before he made the move to join the police service.

In 2015, he started his policing journey as a police liaison officer at the Cunnamulla police station.

Laurie Bateman became a police liaison officer in Cunnamulla.

Constable Bateman said being a police liaison officer was not like being a sworn officer in the police service.

“You’re a conduit between police and community, and community and police,” he said.

“Having a diverse background within that area too made it easier for that to happen.”

After four years as a police liaison officer, Constable Bateman was sworn into the police service in 2019. Though he completed his first year in the service in other parts of the state, Constable Bateman returned to South West Queensland during his first years of service, where he continued to create innovative community engagement opportunities.

With his shearing background, Constable Bateman was one of the driving forces behind the pioneering Blue Light Shearing program, which helped to foster relationships with youth in the community.

An Indigenous shearing program run out of Brewarrina has had great successful in achieving employment retention rates. Shearing Instructor, Laurie Bateman, with the team of the Brewarrina Shearing School working in the shed at Merriman.

During his tenure, Constable Bateman was also involved in programs like Blue Light Boxing, the Charleville Blue Edge program, and the Blue Light Learner Driver program.

Constable Bateman’s dedication to fostering supportive relationships between police and particularly Indigenous youth saw him recognised as a QBANK Every Day Hero in 2023, and nominated as a Queensland Local Hero in the 2024 Australian of the Year awards.

Constable Laurie Bateman of Palm Island Police said he was “humbled” to be awarded a QBANK Everyday Heroes Award in Brisbane on Friday. Picture: Supplied

Now, Constable Bateman is hoping to be able to effect even more change on a larger scale by participating in the NITV series, Our Law.

The docuseries follows First Nations police officers from across Australia, as they go about their job, highlighting the invaluable work they do on a day-to-day basis.

“Our Law has unprecedented access as it follows 11 members of police services across NSW, Victoria, Queensland, the Torres Strait and Western Australia,” NITV’s head of commissions Marissa McDowell said.

“The series demonstrates the importance of Indigenous police working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to build trust and bridge the gap of communication.

“This is a documentary for all Australians, so that Indigenous peoples are seen and heard, including those who work in the police system and those who engage with police. NITV has worked with the Our Law team to bring this vital series to a national audience.”

Constable Bateman said he wanted to be part of the project because he wanted to become a relevant and realistic role model to Indigenous youth.

“(The series was an) opportunity to show other young First Nations men and ladies that there is a realistic opportunity that you can become a police officer, and there’s no stereotyping about getting into it,” Constable Bateman said.

“It’s all up to you; If you want to do it, you can do it.

“I’m no Tom Cruise, but there was an opportunity and I thought yes, I’ll have a go at that.”

While Constable Bateman is now reaching a broader audience, and creating change through representation, he’s also affecting the lives of those closer to home.

“One of my granddaughters, the oldest, she wants to be a police officer; She wants to be like poppy.”

You can watch the series finale of Our Law series two on Thursday from 8.30pm on National Indigenous Television (NITV) and SBS, or stream all episodes for free on SBS on Demand.