Queensland Police Union Journal

The QPU’s New Life Members
Margaret and Steve.
A WORD FROM STEVE
I think our wives, Margaret, Tracey,
and Trish need to be recognised and
thanked. They have put up with a fair
bit of interference from Union-related
matters over the years, and they are
always there in support.
“Paying your Union
dues is not an
abrogation of your
responsibility.”
I also think we need to thank the other
Union and branch officials who we
have all worked with over the years.
Also, I would like to thank the bosses
I have worked with who have assisted
in sorting out the situations that my
members have found themselves in.
One story I can relate about Denis is
from a Conference in the early ‘90s. We
were at the Grand Mercure on the night
of the Conference dinner and we hired
a joint babysitter. We put the collected
mob of six kids in the room with her
Tracey and Desperate.
and they had a ball. My own children
can remember that night vividly, and
they were very young at the time. The
babysitter is probably still sitting
rocking in a corner somewhere.
The following night we took the
gathered mob to the circus, and the
children still remember that as well.
I can also remember the first
Conference I attended in 1989, when
my eldest daughter was put to sleep in
Col Chants’s arms. He too remembers
it, and he still asks after her whenever
I see him.
“We do the right thing
because the right thing
has to be done.”
With regards to Michael Despot ... well,
as I said on the night at Conference, I
haven’t been warned or directed so I
ain’t saying nothing!
I have known Mick since January
1978. We both started in the police
on the very same day, and we have
been mates ever since, with our paths
crossing along the way. He was in my
branch for a few years when he was at
Chinchilla.
“We need to thank
the other Union and
branch officials who
we have all worked
with over the years.”
I can recall the Charleville flood in 1990
when we, the Dalby District contingent
(along with a lot of other members), did
a lot of hard work there helping in the
flooded mess. Desperate and the rest
of us had a wild time, and that is all I
am going to say.
I think the best thing about being a
Union branch official is the ability to
help members who find themselves in
trouble, sometimes through no fault of
their own. Sometimes they’re just in
trouble because they’re a member of
the QPS.
I can recall the time—in 1991, I think—
when we were at the Roma Street
Forum, and again a few years ago when
we as a Union marched on Parliament.
Yes, democracy is a great thing.
General President Ian Leavers, Assistant General Secretary Denis Sycz, and Vice President Shayne Maxwell.
As Steve Mahoney is aware, I have a
very eclectic music collection. I still
reckon Neil Young’s Proud to be a
Union Man and Bruce Springsteen’s
We Take Care of Own sums up my
Union philosophy.
Queensland Police Union Journal June 2013
27