Karen Webb gave gin to Alan Joyce, PR bosses, register NSW Police tried to keep secret reveals

A trove of internal emails reveal the Police Commissioner was involved in buying gin months before her office was warned not to go through with the purchase … and who she gave the bottles to.

• 5@5 BULLETIN: Who received the Commissioner’s gin

Police Commissioner Karen Webb gave a bottle of personalised taxpayer-funded gin to then-Qantas boss Alan Joyce months before he left the airline.

A trove of documents that NSW Police tried to keep secret also reveal that Ms Webb was involved in the purchase of the gin from Hope Estate, owned by her friend Michael Hope, before the purchase was made.

That is despite Ms Webb insisting she only realised the gin had been purchased from a friend after the purchase was made.

The Daily Telegraph can now reveal the full list of recipients that Ms Webb initially refused to release.

The Telegraph has now obtained an un-redacted version of the list after it was tabled to parliament.

The register shows that two bottles were given to representatives from Qantas in July last year, including to the then-CEO.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb gave a bottle of gin to Alan Joyce, a secret register has revealed.

She also gave two bottles to senior staff from a PR agency, DEC PR, in July last year, and one bottle to law firm Gilbert and Tobin.

When the gin saga was first revealed, Ms Webb initially said the gin was bought to give to “visiting commissioners and dignitaries”.

However, only two bottles were actually handed out to foreign dignitaries: one to the Korean consulate, and another to then New Zealand High Commissioner Dame Annette King.

Fifteen were given to an international policing conference “Pearls in Policing”.

Documents released to parliament also reveal Ms Webb was involved in the purchase of the gin from Hope Estate months before her office was warned against buying the alcohol.

A staffer from Ms Webb’s office emailed Hope Estate on October 5 2022 asking about the purchase, telling them that Ms Webb wanted to use the “blue labelled gin”.

New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia Dame Annette King received one of the gin gifts. Picture: AAP

The Commissioner’s office staffer also emailed in October 2022 saying that Ms Webb wanted to have the gin available to give out as Christmas gifts that year.

An invoice from Hope Estate detailing the cost of the gin and commemorative giftboxes, obtained by the Telegraph, is dated November 10, 2022.

Ms Webb is long-term friends with Mr Hope, the founder of Hope Distillery.

In August, Ms Webb told 2GB that she did she “didn’t organise the purchase” of the gin and that she only “became aware after” that she knew the supplier after the purchase had been made.

The Police watchdog investigated the initial purchase of 50 bottles and found that Ms Webb did not break the rules. The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) has now been asked to investigate a second order of 50 bottles only discovered in August.

Documents tabled to parliament also reveal that Ms Webb’s then-Chief of Staff Christine McDonald was warned against buying the gin.

On December 14, 2022, a NSW Police employee emailed a manager in Ms Webb’s office advising against going ahead with the purchase.

“Although the above purchase might have progressed in the past, the question I ask myself is, “will I be comfortable if this purchase was released to the media”,” the employee said.

“It is a purchase I would be sceptical off (sic) and advise against,” they said.

Ms Webb’s Events Manager then said they would proceed anyway.

In response, Ms McDonald said she would “flag” the concerns “with the Commissioner”.

Independent MP Rod Roberts has called for LECC to investigate the revelations from the documents tabled to parliament.

“The commissioner has consistently denied any knowledge over where the gin was procured from; clearly that is not the case,” he said.

“I urge LECC to look at this information that has now been made public,” he said.

NSW Police refused to answer detailed questions, including why Ms Webb gave the Qantas CEO a bottle of gin, and whether she lied to the police watchdog.

“The Commissioner has made a number of public statements on this issue and we have nothing further to add,” a spokeswoman said.