Station lease referred to watchdog, as top cop insists police be ‘squeaky clean’

An unfunded lease for a police station in Brisbane’s inner south has been referred to the Crime and Corruption Commission, as the police service faces a multimillion-dollar budget black hole.

But Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski assured the Queensland Police Service on Wednesday that frontline operations would not be affected, and he would not point fingers at individuals until the investigation was done.

Police had employed finance advisory firm KordaMentha to conduct a review of the deal for the Stones Corner building on Logan Road earlier this year, after it was revealed funding for the lease had not been allocated.

The lease for the Stones Corner building was signed without funding allocated for the deal.Credit: Nine News

The QPS signed a $116 million contract for a 15-year lease under the previous Labor state government. It has an option to extend it for $240 million.

Gollschewski told 4BC Radio he had ordered the audit as he tried to understand how the lease had been signed.

“My first response was, how did we sign up for something we didn’t have funding for?” he said.

Gollschewski said he was not aware of the deal at the time because he had been in another role.

He said he had spoken to CCC chair Bruce Barbour before the audit, informing him he would come back to the corruption watchdog if needed, and he had since done so.

“I really believe that the QPS have to be squeaky clean and everything has to be done properly,” the police commissioner told 4BC.

“If we get a reasonable suspicion of misconduct or corrupt activity, we’re obligated to report it to the CCC, and I’ve done that, so we’ve got to that threshold, and I’ve reported it, and I’m waiting for the CCC to tell us what they want to do.”

Queensland Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski.

When pressed about the significance of referral to the CCC, Gollschewski said it was “not just about corruption”.

“It’s about misconduct, as I said, not following procedure, bypassing governance, that kind of thing that I’m concerned about.

“We have a very low threshold for reporting, so we’ll be as transparent as we can be about this and make sure the oversight body does get to see it.”

Gollschewski said he would wait to see the evidence and conduct a thorough investigation before pointing fingers at anyone.

“Police officers get complaints made every day for things that are classified as misconduct, and sometimes it’s just an error that they haven’t met their obligations,” he said.

But he conceded this was bigger than an error, because of the size of the contract.

When asked about legal threats from the building’s owner, he said he was seeking independent legal advice, and obligations were being met by police. He acknowledged that breaking the lease would incur costs.

The police commissioner said there was growing demand for the police on the southside, where stations were ageing. “We do need better facilities there.”

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