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ABC News
26 minutes ago
- ABC News
Queensland communities win fight for return of single-officer police stations
In the heart of Queensland's Pioneer Valley, the century-old Mirani Police Station sits on the small town's main street. The yellowing weatherboard building with a small verandah at the front sits squarely facing the main road, watching the traffic go past since 1896. For 27 years, former senior constable Fred Baguley was the officer-in-charge at the station, organising school excursions and attending fatal traffic crashes. "I was always told the community needs a good copper, good school principals, and a good publican," he said. "I had time to go to the high school, be part of the primary school, I was the adopted cop for the kindergarten," Mr Baguley said. He said the police service now took a different attitude to stations with just one or two officers. While Mirani may have been spared a long-term officer vacancy, the nearby communities of Farleigh and Seaforth outside Mackay in north Queensland worry police officers like Mr Baguley may be a thing of the past. Both communities have spent more than a year without a permanently stationed officer. Farleigh's last permanent officer left in November 2023. Tony Muscatt runs a workshop in the town of 800 people. "To have a local copper who's only just down the road is very handy for us," he said. Officers remain close by, stationed at Mackay's Northern Beaches Police Station, a 15-minute drive from Farleigh. "We don't have too much trouble [in Farleigh], but having the local police force basically a minute down the road, that's just a bit of comfort," Mr Muscatt said. The Queensland Police Service has confirmed permanent positions will be advertised at the Farleigh and Seaforth stations in the coming weeks, after community lobbying. QPS Acting Deputy Commissioner for regional operations Mark Kelly said there were at least a dozen vacancies in around 140 of the state's smallest stations. He said single-officer postings were initially set up "on the basis of a horse ride between police stations". Queensland Police Service's 100-Day Review, released last month, reaffirmed the official commitment to divisional and community policing. Deputy Commissioner Kelly said the trial of borderless policing, with officers coming from the nearby Mackay Northern Beaches station to areas such as Farleigh and Seaforth, was a "local initiative" by police management. He added that 24-hour police stations would still support officers in small stations. Police Minister Dan Purdie said his overall aim was not to redeploy officers, but to increase the overall number of serving officers. QPS data shows the net head count for officers statewide increased by 350 in the nine months to July 31. He acknowledged the isolation and limitations for career advancement for roles at the smaller stations were less attractive than they were 30 or 40 years ago. "We need to make sure that we continue to offer incentives for police to stay there and reward them with the equipment that they need," he said. QPS and Queensland's Police Union have secured a controversial in-principle pay deal, which includes incentives for small station officers such as night shift allowance and additional overtime pay. "Older generations were very happy to go out to these regional areas and stay there for extended periods of time," Mr Purdie said. Mirani stalwart Fred Baguley said he was concerned for the future of country police officers. He said plans were raised several times while he was at Mirani to consolidate the smaller stations across the Pioneer Valley. "I was mentored by some very wise old coppers. "[They] told me to go there to be a part of the community, to live there before you work there."
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Tongan actor debuts in Jason Mamoa 'Chief of War'
Wed 30 Jul 2025 at 8:00pm Wednesday 30 Jul 2025 at 8:00pm Wed 30 Jul 2025 at 8:00pm Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Play Duration: 5 minutes 46 seconds 5 m
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Homelessness doesn't look like people sleeping on park benches in the Pilbara
When Tess Hulshoff was trying to leave a domestic violence situation, she was afraid homelessness would send her back under the roof of her abusive former partner. "I was terrified. I didn't know what to do," Ms Hulshoff said. "I didn't want to be a burden on my friends. I had two young kids and I was a mess." The Pilbara mother and photographer was kicked out of her home, supplied by her former partner's employer, after telling her partner she was leaving the relationship. "I had done some counselling and the [counsellor] had identified that I was in a situation of DV and coercive control," she said. If you need help immediately call emergency services on triple-0 Ms Hulshoff's situation is one experts say is increasingly common in the Pilbara, which recorded homelessness rates five times the state average during the last census. And research released as part of National Homelessness Week revealed a concerning lack of understanding of homelessness. Most people understand homelessness as "primary homelessness" — sometimes called "sleeping rough" or "rooflessness". But researchers say "red dust homelessness", the term for the situation Ms Hulshoff experienced, is accounting for a growing number of cases. In the mining and gas-dominated Pilbara, where company-supplied housing is often the norm for families, separation and divorce can cause instability. "If you're not employed by that company, or even if you are, then there are very few housing options for you if you want to separate," said Curtin University professor of social work Donna Chung. "There is really limited accommodation, particularly if people are living in houses in small communities. "So if you separate or you are evicted from your accommodation, then there's actually very little option for you." In Ms Hulshoff's case, it was a combination of a close friend and luck that prevented her and her children from sleeping in her car or returning to the prospect of more violence at home. "I was driving out of my driveway asking [a friend] if we — myself and two kids — could come to her house and stay," Ms Hulshoff said. She stayed with her friend for a week before a real estate company expedited a rental home for her — something she said was a stroke of luck. "It was by chance that one of the real estate agents was a past client of mine and she advocated for me," she said. Professor Chung said this "secondary" homelessness was common in regional WA. "There's a group of people who are almost always at risk of homelessness," she said. "They might have moved into a friend's place, or a family member's place, in crisis and then stayed there because they haven't been able to move out." The Salvation Army's Danielle Black, who coordinates the charity's Doorways program in Karratha, said the region's homelessness was hidden. "The amount of times that I've heard the comment, 'But we don't have homelessness in the Pilbara.' We do," she said. "The last family that we worked with had 18 [people] in a three-bedroom house. Ms Black said there were added layers of complexity for women and Aboriginal people. She said affording stable accommodation in an area with acute housing challenges was a key issue. "In relationship breakdowns, particularly when there's family and domestic violence, you know you need to act quite quickly." Despite the challenges, Ms Black said the region had some "fantastic" services, including the expansion of the women's refuge in Karratha late last year. The WA government recently reaffirmed a $5.8 billion commitment to address housing and homelessness across the state. A state government spokesperson said it had an election commitment to develop a new Safe at Home service in Karratha and had recently funded a similar service in Port Hedland. The government also funds four homelessness services in the Pilbara region and provides recurrent funding for four family and domestic violence refuges in Port Hedland, Newman, Karratha and Roebourne.
