Emergency Services to work closer after Keelty Review

Police and Emergency Services in Queensland are set to work closer and respond more effectively during disasters under sweeping reforms recommended by former Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty.

Shortly after being elected, the Newman Government commissioned Mr Keelty, one of the world’s most respected emergency professionals, to undertake a comprehensive review into the Police and Community Safety portfolio.

Key recommendations of his review, released today, include:

• Transferring the Queensland Ambulance Service to Queensland Health
• Transferring Queensland Corrective Services to the Department of Justice and Attorney-General
• Revamping the Department of Community Safety and renaming it Department of Fire and Emergency Services
• Creating a new position of Inspector General, Emergency Management to ensure emergency and disaster responses are better co-ordinated
• Merging the agencies’ business support functions such as Finance, Human Resources, Information Management, Procurement and Legal Services and repositioning remaining QAS and QCS administration streams with their new departments
• No longer using frontline police to operate mobile speed camera vans and undertake wide load escorts to ensure better focus on core law enforcement duties
• A major overhaul of how the Queensland Police Service uses and adopts new technology.

Premier Campbell Newman said Mr Keelty conducted a once-in-a-generation comprehensive review into all aspects of the portfolio including the interoperability, technology, operations and management of Police, Fire, Ambulance Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ) and Corrections.

“Never before has such a forensic review been undertaken into the way each agency within the portfolio operates and how it can be improved,” Mr Newman said.

“My Government asked Mr Keelty to take a no-holds-barred approach in carrying out his review to ensure the community is getting the best possible response, not just now but 30 years into the future.

“I believe what we will see from the Keelty review is stronger, more efficient and effective emergency services for all Queenslanders.”

Police and Community Safety Minister Jack Dempsey thanked all portfolio staff for their patience during the review and Mr Keelty for his exceptional report.

“Our police and emergency services workers do a fantastic job every day and we want to ensure the processes that support their work are equally as good,” Mr Dempsey said.

“I believe most staff understand the difficulties they face during disasters and emergencies needed to be addressed not only for their benefit, but also to ensure better response capabilities for the people of Queensland.

“The changes recommended by Mr Keelty are about refocussing the portfolio to ensure frontline crews spend as much time as possible on the frontline.”

Findings of the review included:

Transferring Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) to Queensland Health

Around 85 per cent of QAS tasks are directly linked to Queensland Health.

Ambulance ramping has reduced dramatically and ambulance turnaround times in South East Queensland have been cut by around 12 minutes. Code 1 emergency response times in South East Queensland are also down significantly.

More interconnecting work needs to be done to give the Queensland community better pre-hospital ambulance care therefore the QAS will retain its own identity, Commissioner and rank structure and will report to the Director General of Health to ensure the priority of both organisations – the health of Queenslanders – remains unified.

QAS is expected to join Queensland Health on 1 October 2013.  The majority of QAS head office staff will remain located where they currently are.

Transferring Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) to Justice and Attorney-General

Queensland is the only State in which corrections is part of a predominately emergency services-based department. This has been an uncomfortable fit as it does not provide an emergency response.

The majority of work undertaken by QCS is directly aligned with the Department of Justice and Attorney General (JAG) therefore QCS will become part of JAG as it is in most other Australian States. As with QAS, QCS will retain its Commissioner and rank structure.

In addition, other legal arms including the Prostitution Licensing Authority and Parole Board will make their transition to JAG. 

QCS is expected to join JAG later this year. The majority of QCS staff will remain located in their current office location in the short-term.

Revamping the Department of Community Safety (DCS)

The positions of Director General DCS, Deputy Director General DCS and Assistant Director General DCS are being restructured and staff are helping the transition to the new arrangement.

As part of this change a large part of Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ) will be integrated with the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) to form a new department named Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).

Agencies under EMQ such as the State Emergency Service (SES) will retain their branding and majority of rank structures.

The new department will be headed by the current Fire Commissioner Lee Johnson and will include a dedicated Deputy Commissioner Rural Fire and State Emergency Service to manage volunteers and Deputy Commissioner Operations to manage the urban fire stream and emergency management.

This change will see a more cohesive approach to emergency and disaster management rather than the previous model of many different agencies working in silos during large-scale incidents.

Enhancing the Queensland Police Service

As the operational structure of the QPS has recently undergone a significant restructure, the operational side of policing in Queensland will remain relatively unchanged.

However, Mr Keelty has identified many other aspects of the business side of policing that require overhauling to bring them in line with other jurisdictions.

Findings highlight that previous governments have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to police Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

This has left the QPS lagging behind interstate and international jurisdictions in terms of mobile data systems or accessing police computer systems remotely. Additionally, many QPS business support ICT systems have been identified in needing an overhaul. The government will seek further advice about these changes including costs.

Also identified were a number of internal management and cultural changes required and will be addressed by an independent recommendation implementation team.

The Keelty review has also recommended that frontline police officers no longer be used to operate mobile speed camera vans or undertake wide load escort duties. These duties are carried out by civilians in many Australian jurisdictions.

The review also recommends that prisoners in police watch-houses be managed by Corrections staff where appropriate to ensure a seamless transition from prisons to watch-houses and back again. This will also enable police to return to on-road operational duties.

New Inspector General Emergency Management

To ensure Queensland remains prepared for future disasters and emergencies, the review has recommended the position of Inspector General, Emergency Management be created.

This position will be responsible for setting standards, auditing and monitoring of performance regarding the preparedness and management of disasters and emergencies.

The Inspector General will also work continuously with the Police and Fire and Emergency Services portfolio, government departments and other stakeholders to ensure the closest of working relationships are formed and maintained to enable the best possible whole-of-government and whole-of-community response to emergencies and disasters.

Portfolio Business overhaul

Mr Keelty has recommended DFES and QPS business support functions be merged to service both operational arms of the portfolio as they have very similar Finance, Human Resources, Information Management, Procurement and Legal Services requirements.

This function will be led by the Chief Executive Officer Portfolio Business, who in the interim will be the current DG of DCS Kelvin Anderson, and will allow both Commissioners to concentrate on the operational side of the agencies.

The creation of the Portfolio Business provides a significant opportunity to deliver more innovative business support outcomes for QPS and DFES and eliminate duplication and waste.

The focus of this review is not about job losses. The focus is to ensure a more streamlined approach to delivering public safety outcomes, which will benefit all Queenslanders.

Staff will predominately remain located in their current office location in the short term.

Preliminary work on Portfolio Business will commence immediately and is expected to be fully operational by March 2014.

Implementation Team

To ensure the accepted recommendations from the Keelty Review are implemented as quickly and seamlessly as possible an implementation team has been formed.

The team consists of skilled change management, administrative and operational professionals who will begin implementing recommendations immediately.

http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/pcs-review

[ENDS] 10 September 2013

Contact: Danny Donald 0439 719 116