First Nations leaders claim Queensland’s second-most senior police officer became angry and aggressive during a meeting with them, pointing his finger at a senior elder and saying “you people” don’t run the organisation.
Amid wider claims of serious and systemic racism levelled at the Queensland police service (QPS) at a state inquiry, the relationship between the organisation and its formal First Nations advisory body appears to have substantially broken down.
Guardian Australia can reveal that members of the QPS First Nations reference group threatened to walk out of a July meeting due to the alleged behaviour and “racialised” language of the deputy commissioner, Steve Gollschewski.
Reference group members Christine Thomas, Dr Marlene Longbottom and Sammy Leone each separately said Gollschewski’s behaviour and language had deeply offended them during the meeting.
In response to questions from the Guardian, the QPS did not directly address the incident, but said there had been “no intention to cause offence” during any police interactions with the reference group.
Gollschewski, a 42-year police veteran, is the state disaster coordinator and best known to many for leading Queensland police’s Covid response, including restrictions and border closures.
The reference group was established in 2021 to provide formal strategic advice to the QPS about police interactions with Indigenous people. All attendees at the July meeting, apart from Gollschewski and an inspector attached to his office, were Indigenous.
Thomas, Longbottom and Leone claim the deputy commissioner became particularly agitated when a senior elder in the room pushed for an accountability audit that would independently scrutinise police interactions with Indigenous people.
He responded by pointing his finger at the woman and using the phrase “you people”, they say. They claim he went on to say the commissioner – not the reference group – made decisions and that they should consider themselves lucky to have a seat at the table.
Leone, who the previous week had been the master of ceremonies at a police Naidoc Week event, said he stood up to challenge Gollschewski’s behaviour.
“His interaction was pretty aggressive, it was pretty disrespectful and condescending,” Leone said. “I observed a highly-respected elder cop that. So I intervened.
“I wasn’t going to sit there and cop that. I said: ‘Look, you’re lucky I just don’t walk out of here. I won’t have it that you disrespect our elders and speak in a condescending way.’
“Anyone that was present, online or in person, everyone was impacted by it. It wasn’t culturally appropriate.”
Longbottom, who joined the meeting via video link from Thursday Island, said Gollschewski’s language made her feel “othered”. She said use of the term “you people” was clearly racialised in a context where it was directed at an Indigenous woman, during a meeting with only Indigenous people, and about Indigenous issues.
“I was disgusted with him,” she said. “He spoke with a tone of voice that was dismissive, as well as asserting and demanding authority.
“The concerning thing for me from that meeting was … the racialised comments, the body language and hand gestures.”
Thomas has contemporaneous notes from the meeting that recorded Gollschewski’s language; she also supplied a timeline to the state inquiry into police responses to domestic and family violence which said the deputy commissioner had “engaged in a power play” and behaved disrespectfully.
She said reference group members became even more concerned when shown draft minutes of the meeting that “did not match our recollection”.
Attendees at the meeting say it had been recorded, but when Thomas requested a copy of the recording last month, she was told by Gollschewski’s office that “we don’t record our meetings electronically”.
She said the reference group has attempted to work in good faith with police, but that members had decided to speak about the meeting after QPS leadership had “refused to take responsibility as an institution” for separate revelations about racism within the ranks.
Documents tendered to the inquiry show the reference group had repeatedly attempted to meet with police leadership in 2021 and 2022 to raise concerns about “a lack of cultural capability” within the QPS.
Thomas made a 126-page submission, including emails sent requesting meetings.
During the inquiry, the commissioner, Katarina Carroll, said concerns had arisen that the reference group was “not … representative of all the geographic areas in the state”.
The reference group members dispute this. Longbottom says she believes the QPS simply wants to replace the group, which is agitating for reform, with “more palatable blacks”.
“They want blackfellas who are not going to push the envelope, who are not going to call out the violence,” she said.
Allegations about Gollschewski’s behaviour have come to light in the weeks after the inquiry heard multiple examples of racist language and racism by police officers, which were described by Carroll as “very distressing”. The QPS leadership has ultimately framed the incidents revealed by inquiry as the behaviour of individual officers, rather than evidence of a broader cultural problem.
Thomas says the reference group’s experience showed those cultural problems would not be solved without systemic reform, co-designed by First Nations people.
“But the reference group appears to be a box-ticking exercise, despite our best efforts to engage in good faith with the QPS,” she said.
Guardian Australia sought comment from Gollschewski and Carroll. Questions included seeking a response from the deputy commissioner about his specific language and behaviour during the meeting.
The QPS responded with a statement that said there had been “a range of engagements with members” regarding the establishment of the reference group and that there was “no intention to cause offence” during any of these interactions.
“The QPS remains committed to working with First Nations community members and partner agencies to advance reconciliation,” the statement said.
“We are progressing a broad range of initiatives designed to improve cultural capability across the service.
“Senior leaders of the QPS are listening to concerns raised by its members and First Nations community leaders and will work together to continue driving meaningful change.”
The statement said police were working with members “to ensure the group can become highly influential in advising the service on First Nations issues.”
