18th Jun 2020, 12:37 PM – Senate Motions - Police - Condemns Defund the Police movement

The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by Queensland Senator Matthew Canavan (LNP), which means it passed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) recognises the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of the over 80,000 state and federal police officers in Australia;

(b) notes that, in 2018-19, over 9,000 police officers were injured in the line of duty throughout Australia, more than one officer every hour;

(c) further notes that the 2018 'Answering the call' national survey, found that over 24 per cent of police officers reported that they are sometimes or often physically assaulted when undertaking work duties; and

(d) condemns those calling for the defunding of our essential police forces, including the views expressed by NSW Greens Legislative Councillor Mr David Shoebridge, who has stated that "That's what #defundthepolice could look like here in NSW".