June 13, 2016
The State Government will spend $5 million to develop a “business case” for a new Counter Terrorism and Community Safety Centre at the Westgate police training facility.
The centre would comprise two elements:
- An indoor firing range, allowing police to train for active armed offender incidents; and
- A scenario village – a mock streetscape including housing, offices and other buildings, allowing police to simulate real-life counter terrorism incidents, including lone-wolf and hostage incidents
The move was announced on Tuesday by Police Minister Bill Byrne as part of a $21.2 million funding boost to counter violent extremism.
Minister Byrne said the State Government had committed more than $16.2 million in increased funding over four years for the Queensland Police Service to enhance its response to terrorism.
“The government is committed to keeping the people of Queensland safe from terrorism – and with the national threat level remaining ‘probable’, we need to ensure police are well-equipped and have an enhanced ability to counter violent extremism across the state,” Mr Byrne said.
“This new funding will help police deal with the rising workload from the current security threat by allowing a reallocation of officers to meet counter-terrorism demands, supported by contracted specialist resources.
“This will enhance the ability of police to profile and assess persons of interest, source valuable intelligence and conduct covert surveillance and monitoring.”
Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said the new funding would assist both specialist officers from the Intelligence, Counter Terrorism and Major Events Command as well as regional police right across the state.
“The number of counter terrorism incidents and operations across Australia is rising and this has a direct flow-on effect to the workload of our officers,” Commissioner Stewart said.
“We are seeing a significant and sustained increase in intelligence reporting and police priorities are changing accordingly.
“Keeping Queenslanders safe is our top priority and this funding boost will significantly assist the QPS in playing its role in addressing this national issue.”
