Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

Since I stood up in the Senate last July and talked about the tragic case of Eden Westbrook and what happened to be a botched investigation by Tasmania Police, my office has been contacted by Tasmanians wanting to share their stories. I'm going to use what time I have this week to tell their stories, and I'll be back in October because there are many more stories to tell. Before I do that, I want to say that this is not an attack on our Tasmanian police. Most of our police are great people who put their lives on the line for Tasmanians every day. This is about systemic problems in our police force and a group of rotten apples at the top who aren't doing anything to clean it up. As a matter of fact, if they did as much cleaning up as what they do covering up, things would be better off.

Today, I am going to tell you about Sally, which is obviously not her real name. Sally met a Tasmanian policeman and they started a relationship which at first was happy but quickly turned coercively controlling. This man was also obsessed with porn and choking. He tried both on Sally, and she was upset and appalled. He apologised and said it wouldn't happen again. They holidayed in Queensland, and, sure enough, it happened again. Sally's relationship ended when she called police because she was afraid. Her partner had been verbally abusing her and she was worried that it would get physical—again. The police arrived, and Sally's ex-partner told her to get out of their residence, which she did, only returning the next day to get some clothes and medication. At this point, Sally's ex-partner went to a nearby police station to ask for a Police Family Violence Order. The police there told him he was dreaming, so he went police station shopping. He found someone he was mates with and, bingo! He got a Police Family Violence Order against Sally.

Sally is a professional, intelligent and independent woman. Like most of us, she assumed that, if she notified the Tasmanian police, then of course action would have to be taken. Sally reported her ex-partner for writing an untrue statutory declaration which was used to support the Police Family Violence Order against her. In her stat dec, she detailed the rapes in Tasmania and Queensland and the emotional, verbal and financial abuse that she had suffered. Initially, Sally was assured that all her complaints would be thoroughly investigated and that Queensland police will also be forward her rape complaint after the DPP advised Tasmania Police to do so. Professional standards officers took seven months to interview Sally's ex-partner. During this time—here it goes—her ex-partner was still on duty, in uniform. He was not stood down and not stood aside but still on duty.

Sally was told by professional standards officers that they had sent Queensland police her complaint regarding the rape that occurred there, but they never did. Oh no, they did not! It wasn't until Sally contacted the Queensland sexual crimes squad that she found out Tasmanian police never referred that file. How about that! Sally was impressed by the Queensland detectives, who flew down shortly after receiving the brief. But it seems her ex-partner was given a heads up that they were coming to knock on his door. Sally's perpetrator is still a serving police officer in Tasmania Police—scary. In fact, he was given higher duties. This is how good it gets: he was actually given higher duties while under active investigation for rape in two different states. Not only has he been investigated for rape in Tasmania and Queensland but also for emotional abuse, financial abuse, verbal abuse and for choking, stalking, stealing, professional misconduct and giving out confidential police passwords, as well as posting inappropriate images on social media while in uniform and posting inappropriate social media posts about a job that he did which identified the patient. The list goes on.

Not once has this man been held to account for any of these behaviours. An internal review was done regarding the serving of Sally's Police Family Violence Order, and the evidence found there was no legal basis for the order. Sally first reported her matter to then police commissioner, Darren Hine, and, according to Sally, he was absolutely disgusted. However he retired shortly after, unfortunately, and Sally had to apply to the Magistrates Court to have her Police Family Violence Order revoked. That's pretty poor of you, Darren Hines. I'll put that out there now. The order was revoked, and that doesn't happen very often. Tasmanian police, through Treasury, reimbursed all her legal fees. Sally also got a formal apology and a letter from Tasmania Police family and sexual violence committee chair, an independent person endorsing her victim-of-crime application, which stated that Sally was a, 'victim of emotional and sexual abuse by a current serving police officer'.

The only repercussion Sally's ex-partner has faced is continued professional development. Does that sound familiar? This is what the military does. They call it continued professional development when they're doing nothing—we're on to this. It's something that they say when actually they're not doing crap—which is really, really bad.

Sally was frustrated that her rape investigation was investigated by a detective friend of her ex-partner, who he played police football with. He was also previously her ex-partner's boss. Who would do that? You couldn't make this stuff up. This officer refused to acknowledge a conflict-of-interest, which, as I see it, would not pass the pub test, especially in Tasmania. Sally has also discovered that other officers and co-workers from external agencies have also made complaints in regard to her ex-partner's professional misconduct at work. This person is still in uniform. Tasmanian police professional standards assured Sally that her ex-partner's reputation is terrible within the force—but he is still serving. What sort of message does this send to young officers in our Tasmanian police force—that this behaviour is okay? It is not.

In 2023, in a report Tasmania Police: professional standards—complaints and outcomes, Commissioner Donna Adams said:

… the community must have confidence that matters are investigated and addressed appropriately.

It seems, Commissioner Adams, like there's a lot of talk but no action, certainly not where the action needs to be. You don't have the courage, because you're all about yourself. I don't know what the Tasmanian police professional standards mob are doing, but it's certainly not their goddamned job, anyway. It seems to me that the Tasmanian police are operating like the Defence Force operates: they investigate themselves and mark their own homework—nothing to see here. Well, I'm onto you. I've got them lining up at my office.

Since I have been talking about Eden Westbrook and the tragic circumstances around Eden's death, the poor investigation and the fact that the late disgraced paedophile police officer Paul Reynolds had oversight of Eden's case, I have had whistleblowers like Sally and ex- and serving Tasmanian police officers—like I said—coming forward. It is just about over, Donna. It's just about over. I can taste you.

I'm not sure if the case of Paul Reynolds has really got out to the broader Australian public yet, but it's an absolute shocker. Reynolds was a senior Tasmanian police officer who groomed and abused 50 boys over 30 years. You can't tell me that none of those police officers knew what was going on at the higher end. You absolutely cannot tell me it wasn't going on and that you didn't know, because if you didn't you shouldn't have been in that damned uniform.

It was a young police officer Will Smith who made a complaint against Reynolds. Mr Smith's complaint was made internally through Tasmania Police's 'blue team' reporting mechanism, with a senior officer he trusted putting his name to it. He heard from the other officer that Reynolds was being investigated by the police's professional standards unit. A while later he was told Reynolds had died by suicide one day after his house was searched. I have been told by whistleblowers that Reynolds got a warning phone call. What I want to know is: were his phone calls ever investigated? Has anyone ever investigated Paul Reynolds and what was on his phone? I want to know the truth, and so do many others in Tasmania. An hour before police went to his house to arrest him—something stinks here. The investigation into Reynolds was discontinued when he died, with most of the Tasmanian community left in the dark about his offending until a coronial inquest was released in 2023. Despite that complaint, Reynolds was given a full police funeral. What an absolute shocker! That was despite senior police officers being aware that he was under investigation over sexual abuse allegations. That just killed the uniform. That's a shocker. Whoever made that decision should leave and never go back near that uniform.

A review by Regina Weiss into Reynolds's conduct found that the extent of his grooming and sexual abuse between 1998 and 2018 was 'truly shocking and horrific'. Mr Smith said he found it difficult to cope at times after making the report, claiming he was never told by Tasmanian police that the information he passed on had been found to be true. The cover-up stops today. It's going to keep coming, Donna. It's coming. That's it. You just can't cover things up, mate. They'll always come out. The truth always comes out.