The head of the Queensland police union sent legal threats to a prominent domestic violence academic and her employer, after she claimed in an interview that the union “protected” a policing culture that was systemically failing to safeguard victims of domestic abuse.
This month, the Queensland government announced a four-month commission of inquiry to examine “cultural issues” within the Queensland police service related to the investigation of domestic and family violence.
The Queensland police union and its president, Ian Leavers, initially fiercely opposed the idea of an inquiry, after it was recommended by the state’s women’s safety and justice taskforce.
Leavers last year said the taskforce had produced “another woke, out-of-touch report”, but this week said he had changed his mind since giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Hannah Clarke and her three children.
“We have now formed the view that the inquiry will present a real opportunity to continue to push for genuine reforms that the QPU has been seeking for some time,” he said.
Guardian Australia can reveal that in March, Leavers’ lawyer sent a defamation concerns notice to Prof Kerry Carrington, one of Australia’s leading experts on the policing of domestic violence, and her then-employer, the Queensland University of Technology.
Leavers’ lawyer claimed comments by Carrington about the Queensland police union in a radio interview on Brisbane station 4BC were defamatory of Leavers and had caused him “serious harm”. He sought an unqualified apology, retraction of the comments and compensation of $5,000 to be paid to a charity of his choice.
Carrington had spoken to Brisbane radio station 4BC in March, a day after giving evidence at the inquest of murdered Logan woman Doreen Langham, which heard the police response leading up to her death had been “beset by inadequacies”.
“This is a systemic, institutional issue and it goes to the core of police culture,” she told the inquest at the time.
Carrington had been given access to the entire coronial file and had been given permission by the deputy state coroner, Jayne Bentley, to speak publicly about her evidence.
Part of an exchange between Carrington and host Neil Breen on 4BC the next morning was the subject of the complaint.
Carrington told Breen: “At the core of that failure [in domestic violence cases] is police culture – a police culture that has been protected very much by one of the strongest police unions in Australia.
“And that is a huge problem and that problem is, I think, one of the key problems in why the QPS can’t say … ‘We’ve got a systemic issue here, we need to move on’,” Carrington said.
Breen then asked: “Are the police union getting in the way here? Are they trying to create an easy road for police officers to do their job? Make it easier for them?”
Carrington replied: “That’s my personal view, but I think you’d better ask Ian Leavers what his position is on it.”
In the concerns notice sent by his lawyer, Leavers claimed the comments by Carrington falsely conveyed the meaning that he and the union protect and promote a police culture which covers up shortcomings in the police service, “which has resulted in the violent and gruesome deaths of domestic violence victims”.
Leavers also claimed the comments falsely conveyed the meaning that he is callous, has no compassion for victims of domestic violence and is interested in protecting police officers who have failed to assist domestic violence victims.
Previously in the interview Carrington had made comments, not complained about in the letter, that “there are some excellent, excellent police who do an amazing job and I take my hat off to all of them”. Both Carrington and Breen made statements in the interview saying “this is not police bashing”.
Neither Carrington nor QUT would comment when approached by Guardian Australia. It is understood Carrington stands by her comments and rejects the suggestion they were defamatory.
Audio of the interview on the 4BC website has been edited to remove the section that was the subject of the complaint, and a spokesman for the station said it had reached a settlement with Leavers that was “subject to confidentiality”.
Guardian Australia also contacted Leavers, who sent a response marked “not for publication”.
