Ryan suggested the Opposition Leader should be called David ‘Crisa-full-of-it’ in his attempt to deflect from weeks of scandals and scathing reports highlighting a culture of poor leadership and a disturbing culture of racism, sexism, misogyny, bullying and lack of workplace respect within the Queensland Police Service.

The clearly rattled Police Minister made his ill-timed jibe at Crisafulli at the Oxley Police Academy where the QPS was welcoming 72 new recruits on Thursday morning.

Ryan had opened his media conference describing the new intake as “setting the tone and standard” and being part of the “journey of reform” before he launched his personal attack on the Opposition Leader.

“If you needed more proof of the recruitment that is under way, here is an example of it today,” he said.

“The numbers don’t lie but David Crisafulli does. In fact, maybe he should change his name to David Crisafullofit, because he just makes it up every single day.”

The LNP’s multiculturalism spokesman John-Paul Langbroek expressed his outrage at the slur.

“Four days after a report exposed racism in the Queensland Police Service, Police Minister Mark Ryan made fun of the ethnicity of a person’s name,” he said.

“It was an offensive set play during a public media conference at a time leadership is needed to drive cultural change.”

The spiteful jab came after Crisafulli released details within the Palaszczuk Government’s Budget papers showing there were 12 fewer police officers on the frontline than there were two years ago.

“That’s despite the population growing and crime numbers soaring,” Crisafulli said.

Public Sector Workforce Profile reports show the number of frontline police officers has fallen from 11,979.25 full-time equivalent positions in September 2020 to 11,966.38 full-time frontline equivalents in March 2022.

“At the last election, the Palaszczuk Government promised 1450 additional “sworn police officers to be deployed to the frontline” by 2025, over and above attrition,” Crisafulli said.

“If an officer in a full-time position on the beat leaves the Queensland Police Service and Minister Ryan wants to claim he has done great job by replacing them with a part-time position or back-of-house staff, is it any wonder we have a crime epidemic sweeping Queensland?”

Ryan would not offer an apology for his comments regarding Crisafulli.

“He (Crisafulli) needs to start being straight with people around the facts,” Ryan said.

“He needs to be able to take it as good as he gives it.”

Ryan also blamed media reporting on the inquiry for setting back recruitment efforts.

“Some of the commentary, publicly, as presented by the media has influenced people’s interest in the Queensland Police Service,” he told reporters on Thursday.

“It is important for people that have considered, you know, decisions around what career they want.”