Qld’s incoming temporary top cop won’t be there to just ‘warm the seat’

The news

Incoming Queensland police boss Steve Gollschewski says he does not plan to just “warm the seat” in the for-now temporary role, nor allow the agency to sit on its hands.

He told journalists at a Friday media conference he had almost been contemplating retirement before he was tapped to fill-in for outgoing commissioner and close friend Katarina Carroll.

On the differences between his and Carroll’s leadership style, Gollschewski described himself as perhaps more fast-acting than consultative, and likely to be “really hands on”.Credit: Matt Dennien

But the policing veteran of more than four decades will now also throw his hat in the ring for longer-term appointment in a formal recruitment process to come.

And despite not taking over the top job in an acting capacity until March 2, he has wasted no time returning to public view to say there would be “some very quick changes” he did not detail further.

How we got here

Gollschewski ran for the commissioner role in 2019 when Carroll was appointed for her five-year term, set to expire in July, but which she decided to leave early amid distracting “speculation”.

Why it matters

His audition – and the landscape any predecessor enters – comes at a testing time for the agency, still emerging from an inquiry highlighting deep cultural problems while managing a surge in domestic violence and heated election-year debate about youth justice, as workload and recruitment pressures bite.

Recent research found Queenslanders scored the service provided by the agency only six out of 10. Despite overall falling crime rates, heightened fear remains.

What they said

“Whilst there might be focuses on some things from time to time, be it disaster response, youth justice, domestic and family violence, and many other things, they all have to be done exceedingly well,” Gollschewski said.

“And I know that the measure of that success is … not only do does our community have to feel safer, and be safer – our people ... have to be supported, and they must feel supported … So I know there’s work to be done in that space.”

After being approached for the acting role, and speaking with his wife, he “felt that it wasn’t the time for someone to just kind of warm the seat” – committing to apply for actual job, too.

“If we were going to sit still for three months [before the permanent commissioner was appointed] ... we’re going to really have a problem.”

Steve Gollschewski

Gollschewski, who entered the academy from a policing family and was the face of the agency’s pandemic response, was full of praise for Carroll who he described as a compassionate leader.

Asked if this was taken advantage of by some police, he said he would ask her this week and, if so, determine if it was an isolated or a broader issue, and what he needed to do about it amid ongoing “transformational change” called for by the Richard’s Inquiry.

Gollschewski himself has faced, and denied, accusations of the racism emerging as part of the probe.

With domestic and family violence occurrences rising to 190,000 last year, Gollschewski said such pressure can cause domino-effects of system breakdowns driving bad decisions and “really bad outcomes”, an area which would be a remain priority.

He has sought a more detailed briefing on recruitment efforts and what more could be done, and conceded internal concerns about how the SES and Marine Rescue Queensland would be folded into the agency was his failure as the one leading such reform.

He said he was comfortable with police union boss Ian Leavers disagreeing with him publicly. Despite this, the pair had a history of working together and were “trying to do the same thing”: make sure police were supported and looking after their community.

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