Rockhampton’s Margaret Strelow calls for expansion of police facilities

A push to expand rundown Rockhampton region police facilities has been sidestepped by major parties and One Nation has labelled it a “waste of money”.

A call for commitments to expand police stations across the Rockhampton region have gone unanswered.

Both major parties sidestepped a push by Independent candidate for Rockhampton Margaret Strelow to expand facilities, and One Nation has labelled it a “waste of money”.

Ms Strelow has called for a total review of police facilities across the electorate as a high-priority, with the current headquarters in Rockhampton built in the 1960s.

“It had some refurbishment and an extension in 2001 or 2002. I remember going to the opening of that,” she said.

Independent candidate for Rockhampton Margaret Strelow outside Rockhampton Police Station. Picture: Aden Stokes

“We have a northside facility that was built about the same time.

“Gracemere, once again an old facility.

“We are grateful for and have seen an expansion in the number of police in our area… and quite frankly they are crammed in like sardines.

“The officers are like rabbit warren. It’s not good for the morale of our police officers at a time where we are asking more and more of them.

“It’s important for us to show our police that we value and respect them and we appreciate they got a difficult job to do.

Rockhampton Police Station.

“The least we could do under those circumstance is ensure they have facilities up to the standard of a modern, state of the art police facility.”

She said police and staff posted at North Rockhampton have more than doubled since that facility was built in 2001.

“If that is an example of the others, it’s a very significant increase in the number of officers,” she said.

She said she was asking for a “thorough review, a rethinking and an expansion of the facilities to allow a better life and work environment for our police officers”.

LNP candidate for Rockhampton Donna Kirkland and LNP leader David Crisafulli.

LNP candidate for Rockhampton Donna Kirkland said the party’s top priority was giving police the strong laws and resources they needed to keep the community safe.

Ms Kirkland said police morale was at its lowest and officers were leaving in droves because they felt undervalued and not supported.

Labor candidate for Rockhampton Craig Marshall did not directly answer the question, but Police Minister Mark Ryan said this year’s police capital works budget was the highest on record.

Mr Ryan did not detail whether it was the Rockhampton region’s highest or what capital works projects were planned, if any, for the area.

Labor’s candidate for the seat of Rockhampton, Craig Marshall. Picture: Aden Stokes

“Future police infrastructure projects will be announced in due course,” Mr Ryan said.

He touted the additional police positions expected for mid-next year and extra officers across the region.

One Nation candidate David Bond described an expansion or a review as a waste of money.

“We already know what’s broken and what needs to be fixed so let’s stop wasting time on reviews and just get to work on fixing crime,” he said.

Mr Bond said while better facilities were always preferable, money would be better spent training new officers.

North Rockhampton Police Station. Photo: Chris Ison / The Morning Bulletin

“As it stands more officers are leaving the force than are being recruited, this needs to be addressed first,” he said.

“We need to toughen the laws that prevent catch and release, these criminals know they will simply get a slap on the wrist and then they are back out next day ready to commit another offence.

“Community safety must be front and foremost, stricter sentencing, reviewing and amending the bail laws, promoting more youth detention capacity for example and advocating courts prioritize community safety over the individual welfare of the offenders.

David Bond, who is running for the Rockhampton seat for One Nation.

“We need judges who understand the plight of the victims and we would like to establish a comprehensive victim support program with counselling, legal and financial assistance and we will be requiring offenders to make restitution to the victim.”

The Morning Bulletin asked Queensland Police Service how many police were stationed at Rockhampton Police headquarters, but it is yet to provide a response.