Questions about police morale as Ian Stewart reappointed as state’s top cop

FORCED to prove himself worthy of remaining in his role as police chief, Ian Stewart must now quell rumblings of dissent in the ranks.

Q UEENSLAND’S first police commissioner, David Thompson Seymour, lasted in the role for 31 years, from July 1864 to June 1895, a period in which his ranks swelled from 275 to 907.

This week, the state’s 19th police commissioner, Ian Duncan Hunter Stewart, was given three more years at the helm of a force that now has 15,000 officers and staff.

Stewart will have been in the top job for five years this November. His contract was expiring and the Labor government of Annastacia Palaszczuk could have renewed it or opted for someone fresh.

Palaszczuk said on Monday she gave 63-year-old Stewart the nod so Queensland would have stability ahead of one of the biggest events the state has ever staged, the Commonwealth Games, and in an environment of heightened terrorism and security concerns.

With the added background of a government that’s keen to steady the ship ahead of an impending state election, and in the absence of any fatal blunders, Stewart was always a raging favourite to be reappointed.

The question is, how long can he stay there with growing rumblings of internal dissent and a bevy of highly qualified and ambitious senior officers waiting in the wings?

In NSW, festering, decades-old divisions between senior police have frequently spilt into the public arena.

In Queensland, the leadership tensions may be more hidden, but they are there, and contenders who have been waiting for a chance to formally pitch for the position will have been disappointed that it wasn’t thrown open to other candidates before this week’s decision.

Police Commissioner Ian Stewart with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during an emergency briefing in the midst of Cyclone Debbie. File picture

Ian Leavers, president of the Queensland Police Union, says there should have been an open race, warning of a morale crisis in the service, with officers feeling over-regulated and undersupported.

Some of the enmity dates back to Stewart’s restructure of the police service in 2013, soon after his original appointment by Campbell Newman’s former LNP government.

More than 100 officers took voluntary redundancies, while existing police regions were replaced by mega regions.

Bond University criminologist Terry Goldsworthy, a former detective inspector who took one of the redundancies, says the restructure was a failure.

“We lost a huge slab of seniority of police and we saw the remaining senior officers given huge spans to control,” Goldsworthy says.

“If you’re a citizen of Redcliffe and you want to complain, where would you think you’d have to go to see the most senior officer in your area? Toowoomba (160km away), which is ridiculous.”

Goldsworthy says the crime rate rose 2 per cent last financial year, while worker satisfaction was down “across the board” in the police service in the latest Working for Queensland report.

A Queensland Audit Office report this year that found crime statistics were “questionable at best, and unreliable at worst” was another black mark for the service.

Goldsworthy also says the police service “has been highly politicised”.

He says Stewart has been enthusiastic in his support for the policies of both major parties when they have been in power.

“You’ve obviously got to get along with your political masters because they appoint you. By the same token, you must maintain your independence for the sake of the service,” he says.

Stewart points out that he had to reapply for his job, proving his worth to a panel of senior public officials and bureaucrats in the “closed merit” process.

“That’s more than any other commissioner of the Queensland Police Service has ever had to do when they were incumbents,” he says.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers has warned of a morale crisis in the service.

Stewart’s two immediate predecessors, Bob Atkinson and Jim O’Sullivan, held the post for 12 and eight years, respectively, without having to reapply.

Stewart rejects claims of a serious morale problem but says working with the unions to improve staff wellbeing is a priority. Leavers, from the union, has been quick to declare his expectation that Stewart will step down after next year’s Games, when the commissioner will have racked up 45 years of service.

“There are at least six quality people who could also assume the role of commissioner,” Leavers says.

The six are deputy commissioners Brett Pointing, Steve Gollschewski and Peter Martin, Queensland Racing Integrity Commission chief Ross Barnett (a former deputy police commissioner), fire service boss Katarina Carroll (a former police assistant commissioner), and Assistant Commissioner Bob Gee.

But Stewart is in no rush to leave the post, which paid a healthy $556,000 in 2015-16 — almost double what his deputies earned. Asked if he will seek a new contract in three years, he says that is “absolutely” possible, as long as he remains healthy and capable.

“I’m very grateful the Government continues to have confidence in me. I hold no sense of entitlement to this job. I’m very humbled by the fact I have been able to prove I still have the passion and the ability and the competence to be the police commissioner for Queensland. It’s a job I don’t take lightly and I look forward to serving the community for the next three years,” he says.

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