 Ladies and gents, thanks very much for your attendance here today. We're seeing constable Luke Weeks is still recovering from a recent incident that occurred in Flinders Street and he's agreed to provide some insight for the meeting today as to his recovery, his well-being following the incident. And if you want to address any questions to him in that regard, there's no problems in that regard. If you're pertaining to assaults, or the assaults on police, I'll seek their address to me and I'll address those as best I can. Why the mics on yet? Can we just ask what it has been to see Luke happen? Oh, it's most certainly concerning to see any officer in Townsville District injured in the line of their duties. We accept that it's inherent of our vocation that officers will suffer injuries. It will be assaulted, but my personal view is it's most certainly not acceptable in our society these days, officers every day go out and do the very best they can to make the Townsville community safe, safe for everyone. And it's most certainly distressing when you see officers that are seriously injured and of late all too frequently. It's something that the Commissioner has been particularly strong on that most certainly police officers in the state of Queensland are not here as punching bags, not here to be assaulted. However, it's something that is happening I believe all too often and that's certainly been verified by the Commissioner that it's a trend that is occurring all too frequently. Do you have a sort of a process that you go through with those officers who are unfortunately subjected to assault? Yes, most certainly. There's a significant level of support and ongoing monitoring when necessary and justified treatment on their medical and also support issues to make sure they track back on their duties and their recovery is addressed as quickly as possible because officers sign up for this job to be police officers. They most certainly want a full and full career and they want to maintain their well-being and fitness for duty so it's most certainly we strive to get them officers all the appropriate treatment, support necessary to make sure their fit and well to perform their duties and serve the public, the public of Queensland as best they can at all times. You must be relieved to see Luke up and going again? Most certainly. I'm very glad and very relieved. And do you know any specific programs that Luke will be going through before he returns back to duty? There is certainly, but there matters concerning his well-being and his welfare so it's not for public dissemination, it most certainly will address any and all issues that arise to make sure that Luke's fit and well at the earliest opportunity. What's the training do police officers grow through to prepare for the risk of assault? Well, essentially the training is in relation to post-use of skills, training in relation to all our various use of force options and so forth but no two incidents are the same and we seek to manage all incidents as best we can but there's always incidents that arise that may not meet with our strict criteria of risks and incidents we foresee may occur. Some of these incidents occur out of the boat. Can I just make my sofa? Yep, good. Can I get you to say your name and position please? Yeah, Luke Peter Weeks, Senior Constable Townsville Police Station. What is he going to do first? How long have you been here and what's your role? I've come to Townsville with a general duties officer in 2010 being here for nearly four years now and still in general duties here. Let's talk about the other night. You were obviously stabbed in the neck and you've got some injuries to your hand. Can you explain a little bit more about what injuries you did have and what needed to happen at the hospital? As a result of the incident the other night I was staying to stab wound to my neck. Also cuts to my left forearm, fingers and a punctured left lung. So can you explain your lung, what happened with that? It probably forms more part of the brief of evidence the specifics of the injury. He's describing things that have been released already. How are you feeling after surgery? At this stage I'm recovering well. Just family and friends. My feelings and everything like that will come out in the court case and get more on it then. Are you having much trouble moving around things? I mean is it quite painful still or are you making a surprising recovery? I'm making a steady recovery. My injuries are healing up well. Can I ask you about the other night obviously pretty traumatic like how did you feel about the whole sort of thing? It's just another night at work. Can happen to any police officer in Townsville anywhere around the world. I was just unfortunate that it happened to me but otherwise police officers know what they've got to do. It's a risk we take every day we go to work. Has it put you off being a police officer at all or are you sort of raring to get back to the job? Not at all. I know what my role is as a police officer. I know this was a risk when I took the job and as soon as I make a full recovery I'll be back at work as soon as possible. Why did you decide to be a police officer? How did you get into the force? Again, it's a job that I've always wanted to do. It's a challenge. No two days are the same. This incident clearly proves that. You never know what you're going to get. And there's been a massive outpouring of support for you from the community. What's some of the things that people might have said to you or the police force here or that you've heard around the streets? I can't say anything but positive things from what I've heard. I've got the support of all my colleagues, the police service as a whole, as well as police officers from around the state and the community, the hospital, the paramedics on the night. The support's just been overwhelmingly positive. How's your family? They're coping as best they can at home with me just ensuring that I'm comfortable. Obviously, about a bit of a shock on the night. I assume it was a shock to everyone. It was a shock to me as well as every other police officer in person in the state. So, yeah, things like this you just can't plan for. Have you ever been involved in an assault on police before? Maybe a colleague you were working with at the time or anything like that? It's a recurring thing, assaults on police. Any assault on police is one too many. And just hopefully in the future it gets looked at by the relevant people to do the laws. That's not my department. What sort of things have people said to you about your recovery and what happened the other night? Just a lot of well wishes from everyone. As I said, it's all been overwhelmingly positive. There's been so much positive support that I can't recall any one personal one statement that has just been overwhelming the response. When you do eventually get back to work, how do you feel that first shift on the beat again? Time will tell. But I look forward to coming back to work. Hopefully I'll be able to just complete my duties. I'm not special. I'm like every other police officer out there and should be treated the same. I guess this case has actually generated a lot of national media. It's from your perspective. I know Glintery's talking about it, but time and response that police aren't beating backs. Yeah, and that goes without saying even if this incident didn't happen. Police are there to keep the community safe at the end of the day. Obviously there's always going to be people we have to respond to and treat accordingly. I just agree with the sentiments of the boss. On the night, did you have any concerns about your colleagues? It must have been crazy. I think it was that thought going through your head at all, whether your colleagues were okay as well? I'm concerned about any colleague I work with, whether it be that night or any other night. Bit of a stupid question, and I know you probably can't remember everything that happened, but what did go through your head? We're just trying to get a bit of a personal feeling of... I mean, I don't know. I wouldn't know what would go through my head. It all happened so fast. So I'm still processing it and can't really answer it because I can't give a clear answer. Again, they allege provided his version to detectives and the specifics of his recollections do form part of the record of evidence. Do you recall much about how your colleagues helped you or how the paramedics helped you, things like that? I do recall all that. Same again, that forms part of the evidence, but in the future that will all come out. You want to say that it won't be time to say that bottom? Say it now if you want. Oh, yeah, sorry. When the time is right, I'll have more to say about what my colleagues did and how they helped me on the night in that stairwell. Do you think it's changed your perception of policing at all? Do you think you'll go back slightly different or do you think you'll still have the same motivation? I think if anything, this has made my motivation grow stronger. This doesn't deserve to happen to anyone in the community, not alone a police officer, and it's my job to ensure it doesn't happen again. You seem a little bit, I guess, very surprisingly calm about the whole thing. I mean, no anger, no, I guess, new fears, none of that. Anger and fear is just a natural part of every human emotion. I've got just as much as the next person, but at the end of the day, it's my job. I know there is involved, but if I want to do it, I can always look elsewhere. And what have your colleagues said to you about the night and tell you their emotions? Not too much to me to tell you the truth. He hasn't really had a chance yet to speak with the people directly involved in the... that were with him. There's officers who... the other officers, they weren't injured, they were back on shift the very next night, so there was most certainly a continuity of their performance and aside from Luke and his other colleague that sustained injuries on the night, those officers have been at work. Are you shocked by how much community support there has been? I am shocked, as I said, I'm overwhelmed. It takes in incidents like these, you realise how much support as a police officer that the community does have for the role we do and it's all very welcome. Is your family angry that this happened to you when you were just doing your job? Like, I know if my partner was injured in this way, if you mean... My family... I can't really comment on how they feel. They're at home recovering with me and everything's been positive so far. I can address something about that. Is it a strange contrast to see how much support there is for police when there is quite a lot of assault on police at the moment? Is that strange? To a degree, yes. This is obviously quite serious in nature and very rare occurrence. However, I think in general we've got the support of the community. It's just outlined when something of this magnitude happens. Let's go, guys. I'll just... Yeah, very quickly. I'll just move right. So it's Tony Melrose, senior sergeant, officer in charge of the Townsville Police Station and Luke's point of lease. I'll just get you to say your name one more time. Tony Melrose. I just want to point out that police officers aren't, in fact, robots and things that they see and things that happen to them at work have an effect on them personally, on their colleagues and on their families. The fact that they will turn up the next shift and the shift after that is clear testament to their character and their commitment and the commitment of this organisation to Queensland. I just want to point out also I've had a bit to do with Luke and his family for the past few days and his wife has asked me to pass on her gratitude also for the support from the broader community and Luke's colleagues. Much has been made about the said luck that Luke went through, the luck that he's able to sit and talk with us. But his wife rightly points out too that there's skill involved here. There's a certain skill set used by Luke and by the other officers in the stairwell that night and she just wants to point out that Luke is excellent at his job and I support that as well. Do you think it was the training then that caused such a good outcome relative to what could have happened? Well, if it had happened to someone that's not fully aware of their surroundings and the sort of thing, police officers are inherently aware of their surroundings around them and I'd suggest that more will come out in due course. And more detail will be covered in the brief so I think we probably should probably cut off that aspect of it there otherwise we don't want to go into any area and pinching upon the brief of evidence or evidence that may be given by the witnesses in this manner. And Antonio, as someone who works with Luke quite often I mean, how did you feel hearing about it? I mean, there must have been quite a shock for yourself as well. And it's guiding when something like this happens.