Karen Webb’s office won’t reveal when gin gift register was created

The Police Commissioner’s office has refused to hand over data that would confirm when the controversial ‘gin gift register’ was created, after documents exposed gaping discrepancies in record-keeping.

The office of NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has refused to hand over data that would once and for all confirm when the controversial “gin gift register” was created, as newly released documents exposed gaping discrepancies in Ms Webb’s record-keeping.

The revelations come as Ms Webb downplayed giving bottles of gin to two PR bosses she engaged to help her hone the “priorities” that would become the “foundation” of the Police Force.

Data which would have confirmed when the contentious “gin gift register” was created was not among a trove of documents NSW Police were forced to table in parliament this week.

Independent MP Rod Roberts had ordered NSW Police provide data showing when the register was created.

NSW Police handed over a document created just two weeks ago, which has raised further questions about record-keeping in Ms Webb’s office.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb. Picture: John Appleyard

Rod Roberts says questions remain over the register. Picture: Nikki Short

The spreadsheet, dated September 20, fails to account for the gin given to Police Minister Yasmin Catley, former Qantas boss Alan Joyce, or executives from a PR company Ms Webb hired for media training when she was gunning for the top job.

It lists 13 bottles of gin given to an international policing conference, Pearls In Policing, and others.

It also lists several gifts received, including “Neil Perry’s Good Cooking” book from the Australian Retailers Association that was “regifted” to Police Legacy and a bottle of Moet Chandon and liquor from the Korean Consulate that was “retained for regifting”.

The Saturday Telegraph sent a series of questions to NSW Police on Thursday asking why the metadata wasn’t handed over to parliament, and Ms Webb’s response to the claim the register was created after the fact.

Ms Webb told a media conference that NSW Police currently does not have a “gift giving register”, but she has asked for one to be developed.

The gin that was handed out as gifts. Picture: Supplied

During a Budget Estimates hearing on August 30, Mr Roberts said he had been “informed from a very reliable source that the register is a recent fabrication”. 

“Will you provide the metadata to this inquiry showing exactly when the entries were made on that register?”

The Commissioner responded saying she had provided the register, and did not see the need to provide the metadata.

The full register of gin recipients was revealed by The Daily Telegraph this week after attempts from NSW Police to keep it secret. The document, tabled to parliament, is undated.

Meanwhile, Ms Webb has downplayed giving bottles of gin to two PR executives she engaged while she was in the running to be the state’s top cop.

The Commissioner said she engaged the team at DEC PR before her appointment, to help her hone the priorities that she wanted to become the “foundation” of the NSW Police Force.

They were engaged after she interviewed for the job but before the appointment was made.

Ms Webb said it would have been inappropriate to go to the NSW Police media team for help at the time, arguing that would have given the other candidates a “competitive advantage”.

The firm’s founder Agata Kenna and CEO Michael Henderson were not paid, but later received bottles of gin as a “small token of thanks”.

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Originally published as Karen Webb’s office won’t reveal when gin gift register was created