Opinion: Woke obsession needs to stop as police hands tied

Police are worried activists have grabbed control of the law-and-order agenda and wish to water down laws as they affect First Nations offenders, writes Ian Leavers.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers

This week’s decision by the Queensland Opposition to wisely withdraw their support for the ill-conceived Voice 2.0 that the Queensland government calls the Path to Treaty, and for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to now announce that her government will also back away from the Path to Treaty, is the first good decision that has been made in this whole Voice debate for a long time.

The establishment of the rather euphemistically named Truth and Treaty Body will, as far as I can tell, remind us all on a daily basis how bad all Queenslanders should feel about the First Nations people of this state and that we are all probably racist.

Like most feel-good attempts by government, the real nature of this body is to be found in the fine print. It appears that Queensland’s own version of the Voice 2.0 has a divisive agenda to further segregate our society.

The Truth and Treaty’s own website states that there will be reparations paid to First Nations people, return of land to traditional owners, brainwashing of our children with changes to the school curriculum to include truth-telling and cultural education, and “revive naming of places” meaning widespread place name changes, and most dangerously of all, changes to the justice system to favour First Nations people.

Just like we saw recently, under the Voice 2.0, the place known as Brisbane since 1834 will be no more and the capital of Queensland would become Meanjin. Queensland itself could be renamed.

We are already seeing the madness of this process played out in Burrum Heads on the Fraser Coast, where people who have accessed the beach there their whole lives are now being prevented from walking the sands due to native title claims.

For police, the most concerning aspect of all of this “truth telling” is the notion that people could have an unfiltered ability to “share their truth on their terms”.

In this woke world there may be the concept of sharing your own truth, however in the world of policing, truth is not subjective. It is objective. Either something is the truth or it is not.

I’m concerned there will be no accountability, accuracy or ability for anyone to correct any misinformation.

Almost 70 per cent of Queenslanders voted recently to end the wasteful, self-flagellating, woke nonsense of the Voice and would, probably in even higher numbers vote to end the trainwreck that is the “Truth and Treaty Body”.

This will be uncomfortable to read and some people will whip themselves into a frenzy over it, but the facts are clear: The latest data from Queensland Corrective Services confirms young Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders have committed more serious crimes than any other group in custody.

For men under the age of 24 the prison population of First Nations people is nearly 50 per cent higher than that of non-Indigenous. For females under 24 it’s 33 per cent.

These are people arrested by police for serious crimes that required immediate incarceration to protect others or they where found guilty by a court of a dangerous offence.

This is after they have at times been extended more leniency and non custodial opportunities than others.

Queenslanders do not want First Nations people to escape prosecution and continue to commit crime against them.

In fact, some First Nations criminals commit unspeakable crimes against each other.

I have been to every Indigenous community in this state, many times. On a recent visit to a community several of the elders begged me to do something about the huge amount of youth crime perpetrated by their own Indigenous youth. You see, while certain sectors of society who inhabit the inner-city enclaves of Bardon, Paddington, Hamilton, Bulimba, St Lucia and West End would have you believe that society is the blame for the heinous crime committed by these youth criminals, these communities’ own elders know the real truth, and so do I.

As I said to these elders who looked to the police and me for help, sadly our hands are tied by the courts who continue to partake in “revolving door” sentencing.

When these youth criminals are locked up, the elders told me in nearly every case crime in their community reduces “almost to zero”, however the moment they are released, their peaceful existence becomes “hell on earth” again.

All police I have spoken to are very worried that the “inner-city latte sippers” have grabbed control of the law-and-order agenda and now wish to further attack police and water down laws as they affect First Nations offenders through the “Truth and Treaty Body”.

Then there’s the preposterous findings coming out of Victoria following their on experiment of having a “Truth telling and Path to Treaty” called the Yoorrook Justice Commission. This series of recommendations goes beyond woke, in fact it’s kooky. It suggests allowing every First Nations criminal to be given immediate bail for everything except murder and terrorism. That’s right they are effectively offering a free pass to every rapist, domestic violence abuser, habitual home invader and car thief who tells police they identify as Aboriginal.

It goes further. Victoria police are being advised to never place an Aboriginal child under 16 years of age in custody no matter the offence. A perpetual “get out of jail free card”. So if a stolen car for example is stopped and it’s full of some family’s stolen jewellery, precious items or work tools the child that identifies as Indigenous walks free while his accomplice who happens to be any other racial group is arrested and placed in detention. How can this be considered fair in anyone’s eyes?

To cap it off, any First Nations person no matter their age going into custody should not allowed to be strip searched.

The nonsensical recommendations from the Victorian Yoorrook report also demand a Crime and Corruption Division be created overseen by First Nations people with the power to arrest police if their assessment determines an officer is racist by their version of truth-telling. In my view a true kangaroo court.

This woke obsession needs to stop immediately, and the government should avoid replicating that kooky Victorian model here as it will divide our state into an unrepairable, hateful rabble where neighbours, workmates and criminals are treated differently by two sets of rules based solely on race.

The Queensland “Voice 2.0” now named the “Interim Truth and Treaty Body” should be immediately disbanded and the $400 million they will waste should be redirected urgently to improving safety outcomes in Indigenous communities.

Seventy per cent of Queenslanders have had enough of this pointless, politically charged pretence where today’s Queenslanders played no part in any historical incidents.

Seventy per cent of Queenslanders want the divisive tactics of activists to end and 70 per cent of Queenslanders want governments of all persuasions, state and federal, to move on from the virtue-signalling woke nonsense that is peddled in the “Truth and Treaty Body” and start tackling real problems, such as law-breaking in Indigenous communities.

We need to focus on the genuine victims of crime and not be distracted by making further excuses for criminals regardless of their race. I am firmly victim-centric and I hope all Queenslanders will join with me rather than this “Truth Telling and Treaty Body” nonsense. That is my uncomfortable truth telling.

Maybe that is a better place to start?

Originally published as Opinion: Woke obsession needs to stop as police hands tied