 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, OK? All good? Thank you. Look, thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for being here today. Today is a bit of a milestone for the Queensland Police Service in terms of our renewal and restructure. And new structure takes effect as of today. And I'm also happy to announce that the latest of our deputy positions, Deputy Commissioner Steve Golcheski, starts work as of today in his new role in this strategy command. Certainly, the restructure process is aimed at getting more police out where they're needed on the front line. And our whole focus is the frontline services that we provide. We want to be the best police department in this nation. And certainly, we're working towards that. This restructure helps that. By taking away some of those lines on the maps, we're looking for a more flexible, more agile police service, one that doesn't take note of the different areas where officers are assigned, but actually becomes a boundary-less police service, so that our priorities are always going to be the safety and security of Queenslanders wherever they are in the state. I'm happy to take any questions you have. What's different out there today than last week? On the front line, I'm hopeful that you'll start to see more and more police. By restructuring the organization and going from eight regions back to five and the 31 districts down to 15, what it does is actually release the back-office staff. Now, you know that we've had a number of people who've taken redundancies from our organization, and that's both sworn officers and our staff members. And whilst it's sad to see so many people leave the organization, it is part of that renewal. There will be no net loss, ultimately, to the number of sworn police in the Queensland Police Department. And in fact, that occurs with the 1,100 extra police that the government has promised us over four years as well. No net loss at all. But certainly, that whilst we lose that experience, it releases some officers from administrative duties in those now-defunct areas, and they will go to front-line duties in the main. Has there have been, with the movement out on the beat, do you have to update their skill sets, this sort of thing, because they've been on the road before? Certainly, we have a policy of continuous training and testing of our officers, all of our sworn officers, under our operational skills and training, OST, and even back-room officers are required to keep their operational skills valid and up-to-date. And that's an ongoing process. So we will need, though, for some officers who've been off the street for some time, they will potentially need some extra training and we'll provide that. Commissioner, could you just run through the maths of how many staff have left the force altogether and how many have come in? Could you just run through that sworn and unsmall? Certainly, in the media release that I provided you today, the numbers are there at the bottom. I think it's 332 staff members who've left the organisation and 86 sworn members have moved on. All of these sworn member redundancies were voluntary, as you're probably aware. And as I said earlier, each one of those over time will be replaced by an officer at a lower level, so constable to senior sergeant level in the organisation. Now, I know one of your changes is more staff in the evidence collecting in regional parts of the state. Why is there a need to have officers out there gathering electronic evidence when it's being done, Christopher? Certainly, the business of policing is a very complex task. And right across our organisation, with prosecutors, with evidence gathering, particularly in the area of our technical areas, for instance, our TI, our telephone intercept areas, those areas are growing because that's where the engineering of the organisation in terms of the forensic evidence is most important. But even with that growth in the organisation, certainly there are still more police on front line or directly supportive of front line duties. Aside from structural changes, such as July 1, Harold, any other changes such as police service, I've read this one, about lowering tolerance when it comes to speed cameras. As I announced a couple of weeks ago, we've used today being the first day of the financial year as well, and certainly the first day of our new structure because of the statistical gathering nature of what we do through our evaluations. We've chosen today as of today to kick off our Reduction in Tolerances program. As I said earlier, Queenslanders have enjoyed probably the most liberal tolerances to speed enforcement anywhere in Australia, and we are now going to reduce that. And as I said a couple of weeks ago, that will be done gradually, and we'll evaluate each step as we move down that path. I'm hoping that people will drive to the speed limit because we know that speeding costs lies in this state. And right today, we're 17 more fatalities at this point of the year, at the calendar year than we were last year, and we know that many of those extra fatalities are attributed to speed. So I'm simply asking people, do the right thing, look after the rest of the road users and your family and loved ones, drive to the speed limit. The Tolerance Reduction program will operate for as long as we need to, to bring the message home to Queenslanders. If you speed anywhere, anytime, you're likely to get a ticket. Those officers that are in the, as we're going back to room, are admin duties. Were many of them placed there after being on sick or stressed leave and then trying to win themselves back into force to help work? Certainly we've had officers over time who've chosen office duties over a frontline duty because of an injury or something like that. That occurs. There are still those types of jobs within our organisation without that. There are just less of them today than there were yesterday because of the restructure. So is there a bigger push now to get those officers back onto the frontline than there was before? No, as I said, if there is a good reason for an officer to have a less physical posting, particularly because of an injury or an illness, that can be accommodated within the organisation. But we had many officers who are simply doing those jobs because those jobs were necessary. We have removed many of those jobs because of the reduction in the number of regions and districts that we have. The number? The number of staff made redundant is actually more than what was originally announced and by the number of sworn officers less are than had been made redundant. Has there been any reason why there's been changes in the numbers? I'm sorry. I said there were 86 sworn officers who took redundancies. They were all commissioned officers. Originally, I had budgeted to 110 commissioned officers who might go. The number of jobs that are actually going to be replaced is between 100 and 110. We only needed the lesser number of commissioned officers to leave because there were a number of vacancies. So there still will be over 100 positions that will be reallocated from commissioned officer positions to the lower ranks, to the NCO ranks. And the number of staff being placed? No. The 332 was 120 immediately after the changing government last year when the initial implications of the financial situation in Queensland was recognized. We were able to look at that position. Then there was a further number after that that then left the organization in terms of the 222 that then left the organization post that in a more planned way again to deal primarily with the restructure of the organization. Has Task Force Hydra or the major and organized crime squad had any impact from the job losses? Certainly, Task Force Hydra is mainly staffed by uniformed officers and detectives. Certainly in terms of our ability to deal with OMCGs and gangs, that has not been diminished. The expertise of the people in those areas is absolutely critical. And obviously, that's also an area of the organization that probably over time will grow rather than reduce. I see them as being a frontline team in all respects. So Commissioner, just back on the evidence collection, you seem like a growing amount of evidence that police are dealing with every day. I think it's true to say that with the advances in technology and science, more issues become available to us and more evidence becomes available to us. Perhaps we didn't even contemplate years ago. DNA is a classic example of that, where whilst DNA has been around for a number of years now, the technology and the science behind that, the analysis of the DNA, is changing all the time and is becoming much more accurate and better. We need to match our techniques in evidence collection to the ability to get the best possible results from it. Obviously for anyone on staff, there have been changes. But from the point of view of someone at home picking up the phone, dialing triple O, what changes do you expect them to experience? Look, we've only started this change program over the last eight months. This started basically the planning in about August of last year. When I became the commissioner, I was able to then put some dates and milestones in place. Today is the day that we start our structural changes, come into being right today. We've had a long period of consultation with all of the key stakeholders. But from this point on, we are now going to start working on different tools and different processes that our people can have a reduction in what we're calling blue tape, meaning the same as red tape reduction for members of the public. We're looking at blue tape internally, trying to make our processes and policies more simple for our people to use themselves. Because over a long period of time, we have put in place layers and layers of policies. We need to strip a lot of that almost of relevant information away from our people and simply give our people the ability to do their job more effectively and efficiently. Will Queensland be safer? Ultimately, absolutely it will. I mean, having any one extra police officer on the road, even for one shift a week, makes Queensland a safer place. There's no doubt in my mind about that. And that's ultimately our aim. The other critical part of our restructure that you will see into the future is the greater use of task force policing, bringing together groups of police who are focused on either case or place events. So by that, I mean a particular case. As in, for instance, every murder we have is basically we put a task force together to investigate that murder. But there's also the implications of place management, where we might have break-in enders or we might have a spike in robberies in a particular area. So in that place, we put a task force together to deal specifically with those events. And the task force gives us the greater ability to focus our resources on that one event or one series of events. In the past, it's been often difficult to pull together the resources we need quickly to address those issues. The future of the Queensland Police Service will be around being able to very quickly address crime problems anywhere in the state. I think you would have all know of Project, or sorry, our Operation Escalate. And that's a classic example of bringing together a group of people in a task force to deal with place management for crime. There's been quite a bit of criticism about the size of the new regions and, you know, you have the Assistant Commissioner based in Rockhampton, but it includes the Sunshine Coast region, I guess. Do you still stand by the size of those regions? Absolutely, but two things. One, the reason we're able to go to those larger sizes is that when we put the map together about 20 years ago, just after Fitzgerald, that broke Queensland up into the eight policing regions, we didn't have the communications technology that we have today. The instant ability to talk to each other right across the state just wasn't available to us in the way it is today. So in reality, you could take all the lines off the map in many respects at the regional level and have one big Queensland region. You could actually do that, but that's probably a step too far in terms of giving people some leadership where we need it out there in those reduced number of regions to five regions. So I stand very much by the fact that I still believe that we will easily be able to provide the level of service we do, the oversight that's needed by management structures in a regional component and still give the partnerships between those communities and their senior managers in the police department the level of interaction that they need. What would be an example of something that, you know, the top cop on the Sunshine Coast would have to go to the Assistant Commissioner in Rockham to get approval for something? Well, there will be very little in the future because as we have had in the past, our districts have always been our operational centre of planning and deployment of staff. So the district level in our organisation is probably the most key structural level or layer. And that's the same for accountability. It's why the operational performance review always that we implemented about 10 years ago always focused on the district level. So our districts are key to the operations of the organisation. Now, we've reduced those from 31 to 15. But again, the reason we did that was because of the ability of managers to communicate more generally across that area seamlessly. Now, as opposed to 20 years ago when it was quite difficult, when we were still using manual typewriters and fax machines. Can you say, Tom, would there be any boundaries? I want to try and change the culture of the organisation to disregard the boundaries at a specific level and that's the operational level. The less lines on the map that we have, the better. But we'll have to evaluate the impact of this change and then we'll look to the future and consider what's possible then. I know you would like to see that in the future, though. What I'd like to see is that police can operate in a way that a line on a map, for instance, the Brisbane River, doesn't prevent police driving across the bridge and doing their job. Now, in theory and practice, that's how it's been in the past. But there is still, for a range of policing duties, those lines have meant a lot and I want to change that culture ultimately. And Commissioner, a 29-year-old officer's been stood down for allegedly his conduct. Is there any idea how long that investigation might take? No, I hope it's done very, very swiftly. I think in fairness to both the officer and to any person who was affected by that officer's conduct, we always try and move forward with these, but in these more serious matters and I consider any use of excessive force as being a very serious matter for our organisation, we need to, or any allegation of that, we need to look at them quickly and make the decisions that we need to make about the officer and whatever they did. It's always difficult to talk about these matters, though, because we work on the basis that the investigation has to take place. There has to be procedural fairness. People have to put their stories forward. So that's why it does take longer in the more complex cases. Was it a member of the public who called the complaint? Look, I'd rather leave the rest of that discussion to the aftermath, because, as I said, it's always challenging to talk about disciplined investigations at the early stages because there needs to be fairness in the way that they're investigating. Commissioner, Jim Carmody's report's going to come down in the afternoon that says that police should be charged with issuing the authority to issue blue cards. Are you happy to take over that responsibility? We do a lot of work at the moment in terms of already checking people's histories for blue cards and the like. I'll certainly be looking at that recommendation and obviously talking to my minister and the government will have a view about where that responsibility lies and certainly, if it's to come to us, I'll be arguing for the necessary resources to deal with that. How many more resources will you need? Look, I have no idea at this stage, but certainly it's a very, it's a large task and it's something that, again, I'll wait until we fully consider it and get the government's view on where it should lie. In relation to Hydra, any idea on how soon we might see that expanded as you think had it earlier or by how much? No, as I said, we'll evaluate our new structure continuously and it's one of the reasons why starting it on the 1st of July actually benefits us in terms of our statistical year as well and we'll be looking at all facets, not just of Hydra, but all of our units right across the state to make sure that we've got the right mix of resources within those units because we do have a wonderful staffing model that contains people, both our sworn and staff members, who have particular skills to do quite specialist roles right across the organisation. So it's important that we make sure that those skills sets are right for the jobs that we're asking them to do. How do your officers view the changes that these are almost changes in the restructure? Look, no change of this magnitude is easy. It's never without pain. And I think that with the consultation that's been ongoing ever since the announcements last Christmas, that our officers certainly will be looking at this with, I hope, with optimism and with an air to looking at the opportunities that will present themselves because at the times of greatest change you also have the greatest opportunities. And many of the things that we've done in making these changes have been exactly what our officers have been asking for over a period of time. And in particular, our ability now to move forward and make further changes in the technology that our officers use in reducing that blue tape as I've talked about previously. I think that they're the clear benefits that officers will see into the future. In your restructure document it talks about some of things that will lead to get to that point. It talks about people being able to e-reports them. It talks about more data to the police officers in the field. It talks about that borderless patrol stuff. When will those things that will enable you to get those benefits? When will we see those happening? Look, as quickly as I can bring them in. As I said, this journey started basically eight months ago. I don't think anyone in our organisation has seen such major change in such a short period of time or certainly not since the aftermath of Fitzgerald. But that change was driven from without, meaning it was changed that came as a result of a crisis within our organisation. What we're seeing at the moment is internally led change and that's certainly, in my view, a much better way to move forward that we have as an organisation that we can direct the changes that need to happen, both to the benefit of our own members, but certainly ultimately to the community. So that's why I'm very optimistic that our officers will come on that journey and continue on that journey of continual changes that is impacting on all of us in our daily lives, whether it be our professional lives or our personal lives. Talking about those numbers, I only talked about the numbers that were leaving and the changes, backroom to front room. Are there more officers on the beat now or is that something that's still to come? Where are we in that transition? Certainly you can't just simply manufacture 86 new police officers and that will have to happen. But in the restructure we have moved a range of people as we shut down districts and regional officers across the state. Some of those jobs have already moved onto the frontline. So right today there are more police on the frontline as a result of the restructure. A hundred fewer senior positions that's really reduces the chance of senior police to advance their own careers, doesn't it? Thanks, David. No, it's a very good question. The reality of that, though, is that we're still in a growth phase as an organisation. And whilst we've seen 86 commissioned officers leave the organisation, and as I said, the number of positions that will be transitioned actually are just over a hundred commissioned officer positions. Again, technology in terms of oversight, the transition of specific tasks, for instance, one of the areas that no longer exist within the organisation is our regional traffic coordinators. And that's because we've centralised the chain of command for traffic enforcement to our road policing command which started this morning. And obviously we've moved an acting assistant commissioner into the role of managing that particular command. But we don't lose the expertise because we have the ability now to have a central command that provides a contemporary but also consistent policy response to issues right across the state. And that policy then directs our operational work out there on the street every day and targets the sorts of offences and enforcement and proactive strategies that we need to address in terms of road safety for Queensland. I'm sorry, in terms of how things are dealt with in Brisbane, are there much changes? Obviously the further we get out in the regions, it's more broad because you've got different layers, but in Brisbane, are the changes accurate? Look, no, right across the whole state, the public can still ring the police numbers. They can still go to their local police station the way that they did yesterday. There is no difference in the way that we will provide our services to the community. What I am saying clearly though, that over time we will improve those services and over time we will continue to increase numbers out on that front line. Folks, I think we've, hopefully, I think we've exhausted things. I thank very much for coming in. I mean, it is a great day for the Queensland Police Service today and it's a great day for Queensland that we are now firmly on the track to improving our services to the public.