LNP backing bikie busters
THE LNP is backing RAP as a bikie-busting taskforce as speculation increases that it will remain splintered to stop a crime wave in the northern Gold Coast and patrol Surfers Paradise.
Shadow Attorney-General David Janetzki and Bonney MP Sam O’Connor have raised concerns about the city’s policing resources.
Mr O’Connor said he would welcome RAP to his electorate when it moved from Varsity Lakes to a new warehouse at Arundel in January 2020.
“I’m just waiting for the hub to be built,” he said. “That’s the big problem. It’s just been delayed and delayed.
“They (the State Government) bought that land in December 2017 to build the hub. They’ve talked about it for two years. We are still waiting for them to have a new home.
“We wouldn’t want to get rid of them. They are working. They still won’t release the RAP review (by Griffith University). We fully back the RAP. I can’t wait to have it in my area. It makes sense to have it in the central Gold Coast.”
Mr Janetzki said, if elected, the LNP would “toughen” Labor’s weak bikie laws, which replaced the former Newman government’s VLAD laws.
“Everyone on the Gold Coast knows that the bikies are on their way back,” he said. “It’s laughable that Labor’s consorting laws have meant only two convictions and no one sentenced to prison.
“Their laws are not worth the packet they’re written on. The LNP’s laws worked. We need to get back to those laws that pushed the bikies out.”
Police have privately estimated they need another 20 to 30 police officers to stop the northern crime wave. LNP MPs want another 50 frontline staff.
“Crime on the north Gold Coast is out of control and staffing remains a massive issue,” a police source said.
“Understaffing and a high workload is a significant officer safety issue causing stress, low morale and increased sick leave.”
Another police source said senior managers met in the past two weeks to discuss the challenges created by the population explosion in the north.
“They met and talked about the fragmentation of RAP. Senior management is saying they have no alternative but to dismantle it and send RAP officers to Coomera,” the police source said.
“They need to get 20 to 30 officers to bolster Ormeau and Coomera. The crime is spiralling. They can’t pull it back.”