It's Twice as Important to Be Trusted - Tony Power & Will Broadbridge

Policing on a small island can’t hide behind job titles. When everyone knows your name and your face, trust becomes the first tool you reach for, long before paperwork or penalties. On Flinders Island in Tasmania’s Furneaux Group two men have worn the same uniform in very different eras: former Senior Sergeant Tony Power and current Senior Constable Will Broadbridge.

Tony takes us back through the history of policing across the islands and the reality of a role shaped by necessity. We talk about the old days when the local officer might be called on as a surveyor, a health and food safety checker in the mutton birding sheds, an insurance assessor, a driving assessor, a tow truck driver, even a snake catcher. He shares the moments that stick and the ways officers used discretion to prevent harm in a remote community where backup isn’t just around the corner.

Will brings the modern perspective, starting with a chance meeting that pulls him into policing, then a “sliding doors” boat fire that launches a career in Sydney Water Police. He explains the marine training, what it takes to keep a vessel operationally ready, and how those skills matter on Bass Strait when towing, sea rescue and marine enforcement can all land in the same week. We also dig into life off-duty on Flinders Island, where there’s no anonymity, and why coaching, umpiring, and turning up for kids can be just as important as enforcement.

If you care about remote Australia, community policing, island life, or the work behind marine rescue, this one’s for you. Subscribe to Latitude 40, share it with someone who loves Flinders, and leave a review so more listeners can find these stories.

If you'd like to provide feedback on this podcast, we'd welcome your comments at crew@furneauxcollective.com

Transcript

Welcome To Latitude 40

Intro 0:03

Welcome to Latitude 40, brought to you by the Furneaux Collective. This podcast celebrates the heart, soul, and history of the Furneaux group, told by the people who call these islands home. Here we share stories of island life, of resilience and connection, of land and sea, of old ways and new beginnings. From the windswept shores to the heart of our communities. Each episode captures a piece of what makes this island life so unique. One voice at a time.

Jamie West 0:48

Welcome to Latitude 40. I'm Jamie West and I'm your host for today's episode. Today we have the privilege of speaking with two men who share the same role, but from different eras, different training grounds, and different paths into the job. What connects them is their service to this community here on Flinders Island. What becomes clear when you start to look at policing in a place like Furneaux Group is that the role has always been far broader than many would expect. It wasn't just about enforcing the law. It was about stepping into whatever the community needed, often at a moment's notice. At different times, the local policeman might find himself acting as a surveyor, a health and food safety inspector in the mutton birding sheds, an insurance and loss assessor, a driving assessor, even a tow truck driver, or a snake catcher. It was a role shaped not by a job description but by necessity and a deep connection to the people and the place. And when you go right back to the early days, those stories take on an almost iconic quality. The first policeman stationed at Lady Barron travelled on a Harley with a sidecar, an image that says so much about the resourcefulness and character of policing in a remote island community. So today, we're not just talking about policing, we're exploring what it really meant to serve a community like this, where the uniform was only one small part of the job. My guests are former senior Sergeant Tony Power and current senior Constable Will Broadbridge. Welcome to Latitude 40.

Tony Power Joins The Force

Jamie West 2:30

So, Tony, with respect to your senior ranking and experience, we'll start with your story. Let's start at the beginning. What first drew you to policing?

Tony Power 2:40

Well, when I left school, I did a course in what we call Telstra today, and I finished the course and I was going to go and work on telephones and things like that, and the money was niltch. And a friend of mine was always at me to have a go at it. So I joined as a junior constable for about six months, and then I went through to training school and away I went.

Jamie West 3:07

So take us back to your early days in training. What stands out when you think about that time?

Tony Power 3:12

I think I was in the same boat as every other bloke that was doing the same course. We were all like little boys, and we didn't know what we were doing or where we were going to go until such times as we finished the actual training course. And it wasn't like it is today where they go and you're on the training course for two years or 18 months or something. We did it in twelve weeks because that were running short of men and we had to get out quicker, I suppose.

Jamie West 3:40

Yeah, okay. So, Tony, you've had two separate postings on Flinders Island, decades apart. How did that come about?

Tony Power 3:49

Well, the first one I came to Flinders in ninety two, I think it was, because it appealed to me, and my decease father-in-law had been mixed up with the work over here at before I ever came here. We thought it'd be a different place to work, and it turned out it was a different place to work.

Jamie West 4:10

So, what brought you back the second time?

Tony Power 4:13

By that time I'd been in lots of different places and different jobs, and I was transferred to St. Helens on the East Coast. The boss there, who I got on very well with, wanted me to come to Flinders, and I said, Oh, I've been here once, I don't want to come back again. But he worked on me and threatened me and all the normal things they do to young constables or whatever you like to call yourself. I ended up coming back and doing doing my last three years as a police officer back on Flinders.

Early Constables And Island History

Jamie West 4:39

So, Tony, you've spent quite a bit of time looking into the history of policing across the Furneaux Islands. What have you discovered that's really stayed with you? And is there a moment or a story from those early days that captures what policing was like back then?

Tony Power 4:54

It was very different to what we know even 20 years ago. It was different. To go right back, in about hang on, I've got to get this right, 1850, round about 1850, the governor put a bloke by the name of Munro on, who was a real bad egg and he was in charge of the whole islands themselves. He lasted for a while, but he got into a lot of trouble, and then they appointed one, two, three, I think it was after that. One bloke lasted a month, then left. But they weren't actually police officers, they were specialist police officers. They were called constables, but they were actually appointed by the government, not by the police department. I don't even know when the police department opened in Tassie. There was one bloke by the name of Archer, who he even once they put a policeman on Flinters Island, he remained a special constable up until about 1920 or something like that. And after that, the the school teachers on the island, on Cape Barren Island, were all appointed as special constables. Each one, the new one that arrived, was made a special constable up until about 1980.

Jamie West 6:09

Going back to the early days, there's a great image of the first policeman at Lady Barron, or first policeman, as I understand it, permanently stationed at Lady Barron, getting around on a Harley with a sidecar. What have you heard about those early days of policing and how do you think those early conditions shaped the role as it evolved?

Tony Power 6:28

The Harley Davidson police bikes were everywhere in Tassie. They weren't just for here, but there was they were everywhere. In fact, I would say there's still a few of them kicking around. But the one that was on Lady Barron, when they left there and finished the job, ended up with the police museum, I suppose. And they did it all up, and that's their means of getting around, of course. So the police department have actually got well how many years old is that now? Hundred years old. Well that it's getting close to, yes. And but it it goes, they've had it out on you know, take them to schools and things like that. But that's what it's used that's what it was being used as a police bike, and it just went from there.

Problem Solving Beyond The Law

Jamie West 7:12

You weren't just dealing with people, you were involved in things like health inspections, assessing damage, terms of insurance claims, even stepping into roles you wouldn't normally associate with policing. How did that come about? And can you paint a picture of a week on the job, how it varied back then?

Tony Power 7:30

I could probably say at the best that if there was any problem of any sort, they used to go to the police station. And that's how half the things that you get involved with. I'm not talking about crime or anything like that, but it just ordinary everyday things that people come against, the policeman gets involved. More so than on Flinders well, King Island. I was on King Island, that's a you know, a similar sort of character, but it's different to the positions that police had on in Tassie itself. It was a a different sort of setup altogether. And I found that difficult in places, but most of the time it it was good policing, I thought, anyhow.

Jamie West 8:12

It sounds to me like you were able to build trust within the community through forming solid relationships with the community.

Tony Power 8:19

Oh, I think they did. To me, that when I was here in the seventies, my problem, I thought, was that there was too much drinking going on and it tended to cause some problems.

Tony Power 8:31

And I just a little jokey thing. I was I went out one night and the boys had gone out onto a a little area out of the out of the town and they were having a bit of a party. And I pulled up and there was they were doing wheelies on a gravel piece of road and they were playing up a bit, and they had a carton of beer. And I took the beer off 'em and I threw it into the bush and I heard a clack bang and I said, Now that's the end of it. You're not to drink any more. You've lost it all, it's all broken up. And about twenty years later I was approached by one of the hoons that were running around. He laughed his head off and he said, You don't know what happened to that grog that you threw. And I said, No, he said there was only one bottle broke, and he said we drank the rest of them.

Jamie West 9:19

Okay.

Tony Power 9:20

And the other thing that worried me a little bit when I by the time I left here is that drugs were starting to come into the island.

Jamie West 9:27

I'd probably describe that approach, you know, going back to the drinking as as creative cautionary policing. I think that it's unique and no doubt it's probably later guidelines in its essence. It was community policing.

Tony Power 9:41

Oh, yeah, I agree with that. I mean, to the extent that in those days, a police officer could do things without charging anybody with any crime, but you could make them do the right thing by making them walk home and things like that, and take the keys off them so they couldn't drive because you knew they'd been drinking. Whereas today you can't do that. It's just that you were in an isolated area and you tried to do it to the best of your ability to make it people on the road.

Jamie West 10:09

I think as years have evolved, no doubt, laws have changed, and perhaps actually just it means though that you might have had some liberties back then, whereas you really don't have them now. Things have evolved.

Will Broadbridge 10:20

Well, there's yeah, there's more of a transparency, professionalism, even managerialism in the police, where you know entirely different. It is entirely different.

Jamie West 10:29

I think one of the things that probably hasn't changed, and well we'll quiz Will on it a bit later, it's about that proactive policing, around talking to people, perhaps our younger people here on the island, around what it means to be a responsible sort of young person and about making wise choices.

Police Boats And Offshore Work

Jamie West 10:48

Tony, just changing direction slightly, the police boats have always been such a large part of island life. What do you remember about working, with them and were there any particular operations or moments on the water that stood out to you in your time?

Tony Power 11:04

Well, when I came to the island, they'd just got their first fast boat. Up until then, they'd had quite big, heavy sort of boats, and they've had about four or five of them over the years. To me, and I had nine years on the water police after that, there was interesting jobs that were done where you thought, this is gonna be awkward and apart from pulling up boats and seeing that they had the right gear on board and it wasn't a hard job, but you just had to keep your wits about you because you could get yourself into trouble. In those days there was only two policemen on the island, and you couldn't just send one out to say to go to Cape Barren for some reason. You had to have two. It to me that was an absolute must. But now they've got three policemen on the island, so officers can go away and be away all day, but there's still a policeman on the island who can look after any problems that happened on the island.

Jamie West 12:03

Just looking back, what are some of the moments or call-outs that have stayed with you over the years, if you can talk about any any of them turning your time?

Fatal Call Outs And Support

Jamie West 12:12

And are there any events in particular that you've had to attend to on the island that have stood out?

Tony Power 12:18

Well I suppose it's the normal story of some bad accidents, which turned out fatal. I went to one two young fellows, they weren't playing up, they were going down to cut a sheep up, and they got hit by a truck, and they both got killed about four or five days before Christmas Day. And things like that stick in your mind. They don't upset me to the extent that I buckle under, but it really sticks in your mind.

Tony Power 12:43

I got an old fella out of the water at White Beach, an old bloke had gone out for a walk and fell over and drowned himself. You know, little well, not little things, they big things. I'd taught myself years and years and years before to not get myself over involved with things like that.

Jamie West 13:02

For sure. Yeah, I think obviously managing situations where their fatalities are are confronting, you've got a responsibility to, you know, the surviving public at the scene, you've got to make sure that things are safe. You're obviously dealing with trauma and emotion at the time if other people are in attendance, it draws from me the utmost admiration and respect for being able to manage such a traumatic event.

Will Broadbridge 13:27

So And there's there's initiatives now support services that you would have never had back then. We have a critical incident stress management where where if we do go to something, you know, there's Yeah.

Tony Power 13:38

The only thing I will say that on Flinders, and it I'm not on talking about other places I've been, but on Flinders, you weren't hassled by people if there was something like when the two young fellows got killed on the car just before Christmas, cars went past. But we were down there for probably three hours, and not hardly anybody would pull up and they knew all about it within a short time. Everybody knew about it. I went to a a little kid that got burnt to death on one of the islands. We had to stay there overnight because we had to wait for the coroner to come in and all that sort of thing. The only time we saw people was when they came over to collect his body and take the coroner and all back to the island. And there was probably twenty people there. And but they were there because they were going birding. They were already on the island ready to go when this little fellow got burnt.

Jamie West 14:29

Yeah, well it sounds it sounds like a tragic incident

Tony Power 14:32

That was bad. It was bad

Jamie West 14:33

And again, I'll just you know say, I mean, it draws from me my utmost admiration and respect for for people in uniform having to oversee those traumatic times.

Humour And How Rules Changed

Tony Power 14:45

But then you can have one. I'll just tell you one little funny one. I hadn't been here very long, and in those days none of the roads were were sealed, they were all gravel. I'd been here a fortnight, I think, and about two o'clock in the morning I could hear this car ripping around the town. So I got out of bed and went up in the corner and waited, and this car came around the corner and I stopped it, and we had a bit of a discussion on the side of the road, and I said, You can get out of the car, and he played up a bit and didn't want to get out, so I tended to get him out through the window, and I will admit I gave him a little tap under the ear and down he went. Not to knock him out, but just to let him know that he was in the wrong and I was going to let him know that I knew he was in the wrong. Anyhow, he stood up and he started to cry and jumping around, and I said, What's wrong? And he said, Oh, you've tore my ear off. And I hadn't touched his ears. And I said, What do you mean? He picked his ear up off the road. For me to find out afterwards that he had a fake ear on his head. Now, I never charge that. I always think about this bloke, but laying on the ground, getting up and crying and carrying on because his ear had come off. And I thought he'd lost his ear for real. But but to me, that's a funny thing. But he came back to me years and years later playing bowls here when I came back and finished up, and he walked down towards me at bowls green and he ducked. And I said, What's wrong? He said, Oh, he said, I've still got one ear. So people appreciate what happens if you can do it in the right way, and that's the way I used to police. And a lot of people in my age bracket would have done the same. But then when things started to change with the way policing was done and all that sort of thing, you had to be very, very careful if you did things like that.

Jamie West 16:36

I can see the sense in why things have actually changed, and that's not to cast judgment on the way things used to be done, Tony. I it's a different time. As we said, you know, there are things about the community that probably today are much the same as what they were, but it was just a different time.

Will Broadbridge 16:52

Tony, maybe you can tell the story. When I came to the Lady Baron police house, I noticed a bit of a shotgun hole that had been patched up in front of my fridge on my kitchen floor. What's the story there?

Tony Power 17:04

That well, that was an accident, it really was. I mean, I know guns have been let off in houses. No, I'm not saying just here, but in different places. They were in the police house and I won't use names because there's their families are still around on the island. But anyhow, they were going shooting, whether they were duck shooting or something, and they were they pulled the gun to pieces, collected all around, made sure everything was ready and they were ready to go shooting. And one of the two shooters had put the gun back together and he forgot and left a shell in the gun, and then of course pulled a trigger. And of course, what had happened? It went bang and it blew a big hole in the floor of the police house. But that that didn't happen, it was just a story. But that's the sort of thing that that could have grown into something quite serious because someone's firing a shot off in the house and someone could have been hurt badly and someone could have been charged over it, is that right?

Will Broadbridge 18:07

Well, there'd be a fair bit of paperwork to get through.

Tony Power 18:09

That's right.

Will Broadbridge Finds Policing

Jamie West 18:11

Will, thanks for joining us, and let's start with you in terms of the moment where it all began. There was an interesting turning point that led you into policing. My understanding is you weren't necessarily focused on following policing as a career pathway to begin with. Tell us a bit about that.

Will Broadbridge 18:29

Yeah, so in 2008 I just finished uh my degree at Macquarie University, and I had aspirations to become a teacher, and it was just a chance meeting in a cafe with a couple of cops, had a conversation, and one of them said you should apply, you'd be great. And so I made an application, and two weeks later I'm at Goulburn Police Academy. And six months after that, I'm wearing a uniform, so completely sort of chance encounter led me to the job.

Jamie West 18:54

That wasn't just a slight change in direction, that was almost a 90-degree turn.

Will Broadbridge 18:58

Yeah, so I sort of fell into it. I got posted to the northern beaches of Sydney as my first job in general duties, and again, there was a sliding doors moment. There was a boat fire at Newport Marina. I got called there, and there was a chap that I managed to pull off a boat, the boat was on fire, and then I let the boat go and save some poverty and got offered a job in marine service.

Sydney Water Police Skills

Jamie West 19:23

So, Will, can you tell me a little bit more about the training specifically about the marine side of things? Working within the police boats and things like that.

Will Broadbridge 19:31

So when I got a job with Sydney Water Police, I was posted to Balmain originally, which is where their headquarters is, and they've got access to amazing equipment, you know, from jet skis to fast boats to the biggest boat, the police launch nemesis, which is 110 feet long and does the all the search and rescue stuff that's 200 nautical miles to sea. But their training, their rigorous training is both marine engineering, so learning about how the engines work and how to do like the majority of the servicing yourself, checking the boats every day, checking everything's operationally ready. So if you get a job, you know that you're gonna turn the ignition and it's gonna go. But then the actual boat driving, the skills, like working in Sydney Harbour, it's obviously a really busy harbour with different types of vessels, yachts, ferries, lots of different lighting in the background and stuff. So you'd learn a lot about navigation. It's a busy place to work. There's obviously you're responsible for for search and rescue, but marine enforcement on the water as well and fisheries. So it was a really great way for me to learn the ropes, pardon the pun. Having not had a marine background before starting with them was actually a bonus. They want to be able to train you from the start their way. So when I joined Tasmania Police, I had had all those skills, which is what led me to St. Helens and ultimately at Flinders Island. Skills that I would really need on Flinders Island because here you need to be able to have the qualifications to drive the cat, which I'm the only one at the moment that has that. So there's a responsibility for me to look after the vessel and make sure it's it's ready for us to go. As you know, out here, Tony, you don't want to be out in the Franklin Sound or off offshore somewhere and not be reliant on the gear that you're using. So all of that was sort of born out of that training that I had in Sydney Water Police.

Safe Harbour And Bass Strait Jobs

Jamie West 21:31

Yesterday I attended the opening of the safe harbour down at Lady Baron. How has that new facility, or how do you think that that new facility is going to assist you in your police work on the water?

Will Broadbridge 21:44

I mean it's a lot safer space , if we do have people on board the police vessel, to get them off, the launch is a lot easier. Obviously, the one at the other end, there's a bit of a a right angle jackknife situation to get a boat of our length into the water. Also the slab that's the actual boat ramp itself at low tide doesn't extend long enough. So the new safe harbour that is wonderful, really easy place for us to launch the boat, but also for the community to launch their boats. So yeah, that's been such a such a blessing for us.

Jamie West 22:17

Probably appropriate to give a shout out then to our state Liberal government.

Will Broadbridge 22:21

A hundred percent.

Jamie West 22:22

And federal government and our local council and contractors, both local and from away, that have made the safe harbour all possible. So Will, can you tell us about the work on the water? What sort of things do you need to attend to?

Will Broadbridge 22:39

So without talking about the specifics of the job, I suppose like we look after the Furneaux Islands. We need to be able to transport ourselves to those islands, obviously the biggest of which being Cape Barren Island. So that's one aspect of the it's a police vehicle essentially to get to where we need to get to. We've got an extremely dangerous waterway, we've obviously got the the Bass Strait and the Bank Strait, so it's not uncommon for us to get called to attend to jobs for towing or sea rescues, and then we're responsible for marine enforcement, fisheries offences, those types of things. So it's quite a broad range of jobs involved with the water. So for that we need to be operationally ready.

Jamie West 23:21

And at some point, you know, life took you from New South Wales to Tasmania.

Why Tasmania Led To Flinders

Jamie West 23:25

What prompted that move?

Will Broadbridge 23:26

Sort of like a financial decision for the family. So we were struggling to sort of buy property. I had two young children and I'd visited Tasmania, loved it. And there was an interstate to transfer program, fast tracker program. So we made the decision to do the switch after 10 years of policing in New South Wales, and I loved Tassie and got posted to St Helens because I had marine skills. That was just such a a lovely, fortuitous event to be posted somewhere like that. So I ended up in the in the marine section in St. Helens.

Jamie West 23:57

So tell us a bit about that experience. What was it like both professionally and personally to be living and working in St. Helens?

Will Broadbridge 24:06

So I get like the pace of life was just totally different from Sydney and just appreciated the the outdoors and the sense of community living, even in St. Helens. Obviously, it's a step further on Flinders Island, but living close to the water, having more time in my family, you know, in Sydney. I was commuting long distances, I was away from my wife and my boys, and and just getting more time together. It's the same job, just with sort of differences, but a beautiful area to be working in, the Bay of Fires. I was working in the Marine Police on the water, just stunning coastline and a beautiful place to live and work.

Jamie West 24:42

Much the same as here, stunning coastline, stunning beaches.

Will Broadbridge 24:46

Well, it was my marine skills that that sort of got me sent here when the officer that was stationed at Lady Barron would go on holiday, I'd get sent over to relieve for him. And I just fell in love with Flinders, the the landscape, the place itself, but also the people. And sort of it was that that led me. There was my longest stint of relief here was three months. And I brought my family with me. And we said if a job came up, like we'd be would be applying. Really not knowing exactly what that meant. I didn't know that I'd be suitable to work here, but as it turned out, I really was, and and that job came up in 2024.

Jamie West 25:24

Sure.

Will Broadbridge 25:25

Oh, sorry, 2023.

Jamie West 25:26

And you've been working here since then.

Will Broadbridge 25:28

Yeah, so I was obviously I'm stationed at at Lady Barron, that's that's my house. And yeah, it was July 23, and so a huge change for me and my family. You really don't know you know what you're getting into, as I said, and and uh, you know, my boys go to the school, my wife works at the school also, and then it was just sort of learning what the best way is, like how to make it work for us and how to good do a good job on Flinders Island. I became pretty conscious that if you were the wrong type of police officer that didn't want to connect with people, and you had us versus them type attitudes, you'd be extremely lonely and it wouldn't really work. So usually in policing, there's there's an anonymity attached to it. You put the uniform on, you go to work, but you take the uniform off and you're a normal person again when you go to the shop or you go and do the things that you want to do. But here you take the uniform off and people still know who you are. So it's twice as important to be trusted and engaged and form relationships with people. You know, you're part of this community. There's obviously aspects of our job where we have to do something, it's dictated, and I think the majority of the people understand that, but they see that there's a different side to us and and that we're human beings too, believe it or not.

Trust When Everyone Knows You

Jamie West 26:47

Well, absolutely. And just on that note, Will, you've become pretty well known around the golf course lately.

Will Broadbridge 26:52

Yeah, so I'm a keen golfer, I'm fairly new to I really enjoy it. It's sort of funny. When I first walked in the golf club and and everyone was there, you'd sort of get the the turning head, so you know the police officer's here. But now, I've formed some lovely relationships there, and and people I don't always get introduced as the police officer anymore. Sometimes they use my name, which is nice.

Jamie West 27:14

I was gonna say, you've even had a few name upgrades at the golf club lately. And I think that's just to put in context for our listeners, I mean, originally Webster, Michael Withers, our club captain, introduced as he was calling a group to the tee, he'd call out a couple of names and then say, Oh, and the coppers. Now we've humanized the police in a sense that basically you're referred to as you as Will and Gerhard, and you're joining a group on that day in that moment. Yes, we respect that your occupation is in the police, but it's nice to actually know you just as Will and Gerhard.

Will Broadbridge 27:49

Yeah,

Mentoring Kids Through Sport

Will Broadbridge 27:50

absolutely. And there's different things I've tried to do, particularly with the younger generation engaging with them. So with Flinders Island District High School, I was sort of volunteer myself to assist with coaching surfing. I'm a keen surfer. They play golf as one of their options, so that's something I help with. I umpire for footy. I've even set up a Flinders Island Soccer Skills program, which is wonderful. I've done that a few times now because on the off season here with the footy, sometimes there's a large gap in the in the sport calendar for the kids. So I set up the Flinders Island Soccer Skills and we got some great support having there was a bit of media attention around it, and Launceston FC noticed what I was trying to do, and they sent over some kits for the kids and some prizes, and I mean that was wonderful, and the engagement with the children was brilliant, but the parents were seeing what I was trying to do as well. So there's been that opportunity for mentorship with the kids and engagement where to the point where they now they come up and talk to me if they see me, you know, having my coffee or whatever, they're not afraid to come up and and have a chat, and that's really important to me to see that happen.

Jamie West 28:57

You know, Tony, and with all due respect to policing back in your era, you know, this this fear of the police might have been something that some community members actually felt that , I mean, it was just different time. You may agree or disagree, I don't know, but it seems to me with what Will's saying, that really there's such an emphasis on relationship building, particularly with younger people within the community, to form that trust and instill, I guess, or role model, if you like, behaviour and an engagement with one another to what's expected.

Will Broadbridge 29:32

As much as things have changed, and as I said, the professionalism that we have to have now with, you know, we wear the body-worn cameras, we're a lot more accountable for our actions. But that's not to say there's not room for mediating issues, having conversations, you know, preventing problems before they happen, and talking to the next generation of people, forming that trust and that relationship so you can actually guide people and put them on the right pathway without having to do the heavy-handed police stuff that that sometimes you have to do.

Tony Power 30:06

I had trouble with a young fellow here one night, drunk as a skunk he was, and he was going to drive his car, and I put him in the police car and took him home when his mother and father came to the door about two o'clock in the morning and and I told them, you know, you've got to put up with him, I've had enough of him, sort of thing, and that was the end of it. And four years later I met him in Launceston just accidentally, and he thanked me for what I'd done, and I couldn't believe that.

Jamie West 30:30

I think in that instance, Tony, you were reacting to that situation, and what I'm seeing from Will and his engagement with younger people in our community is around in an investment of time to to inspire better choice making to and through that hopefully we have less occurrences whereby we're having to react and enforce the law in situations like you've just described.

Tony Power 30:51

Just I'll just add one little more story if you like. Just when you were talking about the footy and that, I used to umpire the football , you know, you get involved in all those sort of things. And they were playing the grand final, and I think it was North was playing south or something. There was one chap who's a very, very good footballer, he played for Tasmania as an amateur, so he was good. And the other bloke was playing in the other team, he'd played rugby in Sydney for quite a few years until he hurt himself and he could play Australian rules, but he couldn't play the hard game. Anyhow, they were playing a game and they started throwing punches at one another nearly at the end of the game. And I ran over umpiring and pushed him apart, and I said, Come on, cut it out, you two, you could behave yourself. So what they do, they turned on both of them got stuck into me.

Jamie West 31:38

Goodness me.

Tony Power 31:40

But when the game had finished, I said, No, don't be silly. But that shows you how things go up, and you think you've got a big problem, and it comes back down, and it's not a problem at all. It's just having you the right mouth and the right head to talk to people.

Jamie West 31:56

Absolutely.

Tony Power 31:57

Makes all the difference, and Will does it. He really does.

Jamie West 32:00

Well, it's certainly been my experience in spending a bit of time with Will out on the golf course, where it's hard to make wise choices about shots and things like that.

Tony Power 32:10

That's a big story. That's a huge story.

Final Thoughts And Share Request

Jamie West 32:12

Look, a big thank you, Tony and Will, for sharing your stories and your experiences and your insights into policing here in the Furneaux Group. And on an island like Flinders, policing isn't just a role, it's a relationship built on trust, familiarity, and a shared sense of looking out for one another. So if you've enjoyed this episode, we'd love you to share it with others who have a connection to Flinders Island or an interest in life in remote Australia. I'm Jamie West. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Latitude 40. Thank you.

Tony Power 32:43

Thank you.

Will Broadbridge 32:43

Thank you

Country And Culture Acknowledgement

Outro 32:46

We acknowledge the ancient history of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the first people of Lutruita, Tasmania. This episode is recorded on the lands and waters of the Furneaux Islands. We recognize the continuing spiritual and ancestral connections of Tasmanian Aboriginal people to these islands. And we honour the strength, resilience, and living culture of Aboriginal people today.