State Liberal Member for Caloundra Mark McArdle supports new laws passed in Parliament last week giving police extra powers to crack down on minor street crimes.     But he says the new laws will be meaningless if there aren't enough police on the streets to enforce them.    In reply the State said it had boosted police numbers by record levels and that trend would continue.

Mr McArdle said while he and his Liberal Party colleagues fully supported the new Summary Offences Act, it would need to be backed-up with extra police so the legislation had real teeth.

"There's no use having extra powers and harsher penalties if there's not enough police on the ground to catch the hooligans and criminals," said Mr McArdle.    "These new laws are designed to help police respond quickly to alcohol-fuelled and offensive behaviour incidents before they get out of hand, but you have to have enough police on the beat first for it to work."`   He said currently there are simply not enough police covering the rapidly growing Sunshine Coast area for Summary Offences Act to be fully enforced.

"The Sunshine Coast is a rapidly growing area, but the Beattie Government has repeatedly refused to allocate enough police officers and resources to match this growth," said Mr McArdle.    "I fully support these new laws, but now I call upon the Beattie Government to boost police numbers so the laws can be fully enforced."   Yet the State argues strongly against any failure by it to address police numbers across a region which is seeing migration from other parts of Australia, suggesting Mr McArdle "was clearly not listening in Parliament last week" when the Minister for Police and Corrective Services was speaking.

"I told Parliament last week how the state government has increased police numbers statewide by almost one third," said Judy Spence, Minister for Police and Corrective Services.    "Let's look at the facts.    And the facts are that the number of police in Queensland is continuing to rise at a record level."   The minister said in 1998 there were 6,800 police, today there are more than 8,900 and by September 2005 there will be more than 9,150.   "Since the Beattie Government came to office in 1998, we have boosted policing numbers on the Sunshine Coast from 263 to 383.   That's a 45 percent increase," she said.

The Labor Minister said she was pleased that the Beattie Government's tough new laws which will enable police to crack down on public disorder offences were passed unanimously last week in State Parliament.   The new laws will take effect later this month.   While there are a range of new offences that police will need to enforce, the majority of the offences contained under this legislation are existing, and have been amended to significantly increase the penalties for a range of offences to serve as a stronger deterrent, the State Government said.

Caloundra City Council's Division Two representative Anna Grosskreutz concurs with the Liberal MP Mark McArdle over police staffing on the Sunshine Coast.   Moreover, she only recently called for an audit of police numbers which received the full backing of council.

"The Chief Executive Officer is preparing a report for Council's consideration outlining police numbers, duties, responsibilities and an audit of police stations and hours of operation within Caloundra City together with details of current and projected population growth for the City," she said.   Cr Grosskreutz also said under staffing is being exacerbated by the fact that she believes the Sunshine Coast policing division records the highest number of police sickness leave.  And that there are times where there are no police on shifts because of lack of numbers.

"On the Sunshine Coast the Thin Blue Line is thin indeed and getting thinner," said Cr Grosskreutz.   "I am passionate about Law and Order and the need for the Beattie Government to ensure the State and Sunshine Coast have an adequately resourced policing service and all stations are manned to maximum capacity 24 hours a day."