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To: Queensland Premier: Annastacia Palaszczuk, Acting Premier Dr Steven Miles, and Attorney General: Yvette D’Ath

Championing positive change or business as usual?

This is an open letter which will be circulated to the Australian public and media.

Why is this important?

On October 26th 2023, we the First Nations Advisory Group to the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and a collective of supporters and allies, took a united stand in our dismissal of the outwardly racist ideology expressed by Queensland Police Union (QPU) President, in the Courier Mail on Wednesday 25th October 2023.

On November 13 2023, we again collectively called on the Minister for Queensland Police and the Commissioner of Police to take action as a demonstration that racist and harmful behaviour would not be accepted as business as usual.

Not only have our calls for action been met with silence, just over one month later on the 30th November 2023, the President of the QPU has been announced as a member of the Independent Ministerial Advisory Council (IMAC) to give victims a voice.

The comments made by the QPU President remain negligent and outwardly harmful to the wellbeing and interests of our First Nations peoples and communities, including victims. It is beyond belief that the same individual who so recently made overtly racist and fearmongering public commentary about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples could be identified as an appropriate member of this Council.

The President of the QPU has also repeatedly refused to acknowledge widespread problems in police responses to domestic and family violence in Queensland. This is despite numerous studies and reports to the contrary, including the 2022 “Call for Change” report from the Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Reponses to domestic and family violence that found “ample evidence that there are cultural issues within the Queensland Police Service which inhibit the policing of domestic and family violence.” The appointment of QPU President to the Victims Advisory Council represents a gross disservice to the “voice” of victims, and to the countless people and organisations working to change this in Queensland.

The people most likely to be victims in Queensland are women, children and young people, too often Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, children and young people. These people have been let down by this decision. Queensland has been let down by this decision.

We wish to express our deep disappointment at the Queensland Government’s implicit endorsement of the President of the QPU by giving him a position of influence over the very important and critical work of the council in its consideration of the needs of victims and vulnerable people, such as children, young people, women and First Nations peoples.

We invite the Premier and Attorney General to meet with a representative body of this group to further discuss our concerns and to seek a positive resolution to the ongoing harm that is being felt.

In good faith we await your response.

How it will be delivered

To the Premier and Attorney General meeting with a representative body of this group to further discuss our concerns and to seek a positive resolution to the ongoing harm that is being felt.

Queensland, Australia

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Updates

2024-05-07 12:05:23 +1000

Hi folks

By way of an update: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/07/queensland-police-sack-qps-first-nations-advisory-group

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7193416458226311169/

Thank you for you support!

2023-12-11 15:53:10 +1100

Hi folks

An update on our meeting with Attorney General Yvette D’Ath who initially stated that the Government is not reconsidering its position at this time with respect to the membership however did give us the opportunity to voice our concerns & has committed to take our concerns to the Government & report back to us. We will early this week provide a further written submission reinforcing the position we took in the meeting.

We highlighted the broad range of voices this campaign is representing & drew attention to the fact that we are not the only ones speaking against this appointment. We outlined that this appointment is seen as an endorsement of the President of the Police Union in the shadow of the significant harm caused by recent comments. We highlighted that there are victims who are contacting us advising of the harm this appointment has caused to them.

Minister Enoch’s office has committed to scheduling a meeting with us & facilitating a meeting with Minister Ryan.

2023-12-06 20:37:17 +1100

Good evening all - by way of an update - the meeting tomorrow has been reduced to 4 representatives and no online observers allowed. We will provide an update following our meeting. Kind Regards Chris

2023-12-05 08:35:03 +1100

Good morning folks - we have been advised that a meeting will take place with the Attorney General Thursday this week. This is some movement. The work is not over yet as we need to ensure that we impress upon the Queensland Government that racism will not be tolerated in our society. It is not who we are and it is not who we aspire to be. We really need to increase the numbers of signatures on this petition prior to meeting with the AG on Thursday to demonstrate that there is in fact a large number of people standing in solidarity on this issue - so please share the link - text everyone in your phone - email everyone in your contact list - share it on social media and ask people to consider standing in solidarity on this very important issue and ask them to also call others to action by sharing with those that they know. Stay strong and courageous and THANK YOU so much for your support and solidarity.

2023-12-01 20:16:48 +1100

100 signatures reached

2023-12-01 15:22:34 +1100

50 signatures reached

2023-12-01 13:43:48 +1100

25 signatures reached

2023-12-01 12:44:14 +1100

10 signatures reached