What we learned from the commission of inquiry report into QPS responses to domestic violence
Before we end the blog, let’s go through the big moments from this afternoon:
Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, addressed the media, calling the inquiry’s report “raw and confronting”.
Palaszczuk announced that cabinet supported all 78 recommendations in principle.
The Queensland attorney general, Shannon Fentiman, addressed the victim-survivors who came forward – saying they were heard, they were believed and now the government was taking action.
Palaszczuk said if an officer was racist or sexist, they had no role working in QPS
The QPS commissioner, Katarina Carroll, defended her ability to implement the reforms and said the responsibility of changing the culture lay with her.
The deputy commissioner, Steve Gollschewski, responded to criticism of his treatment of First Nations officers, saying he had the “utmost respect for all First Nations people”.
The report found that QPS’s “broken” internal complaints system allowed discrimination to go unchecked.
The report also recommended that every QPS district should have 24/7 domestic and family violence vulnerable persons units.
The head of the state’s women’s legal service, Nadia Bromley, says she hopes QPS report will “shock” Queensland into action.
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Carroll’s statement continues:
We are now aware of incidents where it had little influence on changing behaviours of individuals and maintaining the high standard of conduct that I expect of those within the organisation.
As the Commissioner, this ultimately stops with me. I will not accept bad behaviour or stand by those who do not meet the standard expected of them. We have already made changes within our LMR system to ensure we can hold members accountable for their actions.
As I have said a number of times, a line in the sand has been drawn.
I have always been intent on enacting strong reform and today, I have a renewed focus on what needs to be done to restore trust and create a workplace where people can have their voices heard.
The recommendations are an opportunity for us to learn, grow and do better.
Today, I have spoken to the Premier who has expressed her confidence in me to lead this reform. I am 100 per cent committed to seeing this reform through, working through these recommendations, and delivering on the intent of the outcomes of this report.
I have a strong history in reform and already we have begun this journey to enhance the QPS.
A Special Coordinator for Police Reform will be established to lead and manage the various reform and transformational programs, and Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski has been appointed to this role.
I have engaged Julie McKay and her specialist team from PricewaterhouseCoopers to support us in this work.
Next week I will join with more than 100 senior leaders from across the QPS to set my expectations of how we will enhance our organisation. We have good leaders at all levels of the organisation who are committed to improving the QPS.
With the release of this report, I expect more questions to be raised and approaches to be made to the media.
The cases that are known to us are either already being finalised or under investigation.
To maintain the integrity of our system, we will not comment on individual cases. This is so those who are part of the complaint are afforded privacy and natural justice and so those within our organisation can be confident to come forward.
I encourage individuals to either contact us or the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) to have their claims investigated.
Police are called to relationships in crisis, at a time when help and support is needed most.
Each one of us takes an oath to protect and serve our community.
Today we will do better than we did yesterday and tomorrow we will do better than we did today.
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