When I became the Regional Superintendent of the North Coast Region based on Gympie in February 1988, I soon found that, apart from the headquarters stations of Bundaberg, Maryborough, Gympie and Maroochydore, three or four twenty-four-hour stations and the district headquarters themselves—all other stations had no clerical support. All up there would have been no more than twelve public servants in the region. None of them was above AO2 which was then the base grade public servant. With a need to work other than day shifts and with a cut back in relieving absent members, it was obvious that many stations were not open during some of the usual business days.

I knew that there was then a freeze on more public servants. But when invited to have socialise with other dignitaries at the Nambour Show in June, 1988 or 1989, I took the opportunity to raise the issue with then-Treasurer and local Member of Parliament, Brian Austin. I had known Brian previously and he was quick to confirm that there would be no more public servants in the forthcoming budget. He did, however, query whether the QPS had ever considered part-time public servants. I said that I felt that we had not, but that it was a good idea if something could be done about the suggestion.

Nothing more was thought about the matter by me until I received a telephone call at Gympie from a senior Treasury official. He indicated that the Treasurer had tasked him to explore the suggestion and he asked me to give him something in writing. This was in the middle of the Commission of Inquiry and during a period when I could not go onto the executive floor at police headquarters nor could I leave my region without the written permission of the Acting Commissioner, Ron Redmond. (This is a true statement—one not known by many people.)

I told the official that I would prepare something and send it to him with no identifying marks on it. This I did. I heard no more until after the budget was released and $500 000 was shown in the police department's allocations for part-time public servants. Brian Gallagher, who was then the Departmental Secretary and most senior public servant, contacted the Treasury about this unrequested amount. (I would say that the inclusion of an amount in a department's budget without any request was unheard of at that time.)

Brian was told that I knew about this gesture and that he should contact me which he did. I told him of my brief conversation with Brian Austin and I think I mentioned the contact from the Treasury official. The rest, as they say, is history.

Soon after, the eight regional superintendents were allocated so many hours and were asked to advise where the hours would be allocated with a maximum of twenty-four to any station or section. I quickly consulted the four district officers and forwarded my return to Brisbane. Soon afterwards—and soon after that again—I received more hours and again quickly allocated them. The additional allocations indicated to me that some of my colleagues did not accept all or part of the offer because there was some resistance to having public servants doing clerical duty which some officers in charge believed could only be done by themsselves.

There was one four-person station which resisted any assistance, but my recollection is that all two-person stations and all other four-person stations received an allocation. I have not checked the situation today but I believe that all of the allocations remain and in some cases they have been increased to full-time where the need was justified.

What this action meant and still means is that through effective rostering someone can be at most stations in the North Coast Region during business hours to attend to callers in person or on the telephone. While the public did not have any say in the matter, the
'part-timers' were well-received and soon established themselves as a valuable resource. I recall hearing regularly on the police radio, a part-timer inquiring from a police officer when he or she would be back at the station so a member of the public could see him or her.