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This was published 9 months ago
Police inquiry handed state a ‘roadmap to reform’. It seems we’re lost
By Matt Dennien
Releasing a damning 412-page report exposing a culture of racism, sexism and misogyny within the Queensland police ranks, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk labelled it a “roadmap to reform”.
That map came preloaded with turn-by-turn timeframes, laying out the movement to be made within three, six, 12 and 18 months across 78 recommendations.
But it seems the state is somewhere between lost and stuck at the start line.
Former Queensland chief justice and robo-debt royal commissioner Catherine Holmes AC SC is among the latest signatories to open letters calling for action over an “outward racist ideology” expressed by police union president Ian Leavers last month.Credit: Michelle Smith
This Tuesday marks one year since the report of last year’s inquiry into Queensland police responses to domestic and family violence, titled A Call for Change, was handed to government.
Next Tuesday marks a year since its public release, with government support for “the intent of the recommendations”.
At the time, further consideration was said to be needed to ensure the calls for change included “harmonisation” into those of the two Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce reports, the Mazerolle report into police-related deaths, the Coaldrake review into public sector culture and accountability and the Fitzgerald inquiry into the state’s anti-corruption agency.
Asked for an update this month to mark the anniversary, a government spokesperson referred me to that statement from one year ago.
In other words: the public are still no clearer on what shape the government action on many recommendations, including those deemed “priority” such as a new police integrity unit, will take.
Let alone when they will take it.
Meanwhile, some argue things have since gone backwards – particularly with last month’s inflammatory and widely condemned attack on the state’s path to First Nations treaties by long-term police union president Ian Leavers.
And after calls for Leavers’ resignation by a group including eminent legal identity Margaret McMurdo AC, that criticism has only grown louder.
A new open letter addressed to Police Minister Mark Ryan, Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll, the Queensland Police Commissioned Officers’ Union representing higher ranking personnel, and “all members of the Queensland Police Service”, has declared the response so far not enough.
Signatories now include more than 60 First Nations figures, community service or advocacy organisations, justice researchers and legal figures. Among them are the mayors of the Mornington Island, Palm Island and Hope Vale Aboriginal councils.
Also present is former Queensland chief justice and robo-debt royal commissioner Catherine Holmes AC SC.
“We are writing to you today to call you to action,” the letter says. “We acknowledge that in response to the comments QPS affirmed its commitment to reconciliation. This is not enough. We understand that Minister Ryan stated that it ‘was a matter for the union’. It is not.”
The group has called on the recipients to “demonstrate moral courage and take decisive action to demonstrate that you are committed to addressing the culture of racism and to be open and transparent in how you are doing this”.
“In good faith we await your response.”
Appearing early on Tuesday at a press conference with Ryan to spruik the state’s record current recruit cohort, Carroll defended Leavers.
Carroll also dismissed the letter’s calls to address a “culture of racism” (calling the statement “incredibly disappointing”), laying the blame on a small minority, despite Richards’ report finding racism was a “significant problem”.
Ryan described the report’s timeline as “arbitrarily set” by the inquiry, but was not asked about the letter by journalists able to make the 7.30am suburban press conference.
Detective Superintendent Kerry Johnson, who leads the QPS First Nations and Multicultural Affairs Unit and the separate union for higher-ranking police also addressed by the open letter, declined to comment on Leavers’ views in a statement.
Leavers and the Queensland Police Union have declined to comment, or not responded, to several approaches by Brisbane Times on the issue.
Some action has already been taken by police around Richards’ recommendations to better train officers on domestic and family violence responses, detailed in their latest annual report.
The work is being overseen by Special Co-ordinator for Police and Emergency Services Reform Steve Gollschewski and an Independent Implementation Supervisor, and included an initial $100 million investment.
But both Carroll and Leavers have sought to distance themselves or outright rejected the police integrity unit as recommended. (“Further work is required”, the government spokesperson said).
Other calls, including another “priority” for work to be done within three months around partnerships with the First Nations Advisory Group – whose members’ are among those signing open letters – are also not complete.
Leavers’ comments “offered each of you an opportunity to actively take a stand to call out the behaviour for what it is and take action; demonstrating to your own staff and the public that the ‘Call for Change’ from the independent inquiry was heard,” the most recent letter states. “This opportunity still exists.”
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