Police budget blowout referred to corruption watchdog
Queensland’s police commissioner has referred a controversial lease for a new station in Brisbane to the Crime and Corruption Commission.
A bungled lease for a new Queensland police station with an unfunded $116 million price tag has been referred to the state’s corruption watchdog.
Queensland Police signed the 15-year lease to set up a new station at Stones Corner, in Brisbane’s inner-south, with an option to extend it for a total of $240 million.
However, the contract was signed before money was allocated for the major project.
Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski decided to refer the matter to the Crime and Corruption Commission due to the “circumstances” and is awaiting a response.
“We have a system under our act that requires us to report anything where there’s a reasonable suspicion of misconduct or other corrupt activity,” Gollschewski told reporters on Friday.
“We take a very deliberate stance on that, and making sure that we are completely transparent as an organisation, and that we are holding ourselves to the highest possible standards.”
The commissioner would not be drawn on whether he believed any corruption was involved in the lease.
“I’m saying wait to see what the investigation finds, and then we’ll be very happy to talk about what the outcome of the investigation is,” Gollschewski said.
The Stones Corner lease sparked the police chief to undertake a budget audit, which he claimed found the force had committed money to initiatives that had not been funded.
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Gollschewski said his team was going through the budget with a fine-tooth comb, but flagged it may require state government intervention.
Despite the $116 million police budget black hole, Premier David Crisafulli said there would be no impact on frontline services amid an investigation into the lease.
“There’s going to be some big questions asked about that, I can assure you,” Crisafulli said of the unbudgeted police station in late October.
