Recommendations of the 1989 Fitzgerald Report in Queensland are made against a background of police reform in other States including New South Wales and Victoria. Regarding the prospects for reform in Queensland, several reasons for caution emerge when assessing the likelihood of significant change. The strongly centralized character of police administration in Australia must be viewed as a difficulty facing the prospects for regionalization and for genuine community policing. Successful reform also may be limited by the ongoing need to depend on the establishment and maintenance of good lines of communication between the unions and the police department. Areas of change that appear to be more promising include the strong endorsement of better police education and training and the collapse in Queensland in December 1989 of a 32-year conservative political rule in the face of an overwhelming electoral victory of the Labor Party. 34 references (Author abstract modified)