# The Briefing Note

An episode of [Badge of Betrayal](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1852919243), 28 Jan 2026, 27 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/fbab9570-a7a3-4fd4-a673-b3940044b1b8/bc4f03d4-d5ef-4bc6-af9d-b3e0002b4270/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=2f1fa4b5-119b-41b5-8749-b3940044b5a4

In this episode, we examine how institutions respond when serious allegations emerge inside their own ranks. Drawing on Right to Information documents, parliamentary records and broadcast interviews, we trace the timeline that led to a full police funeral for the late Paul Reynolds in September 2018 at a time when professional standards investigations were already underway. This is not a story about assigning personal blame, but about process, timing and decision-making, and how actions taken in the moment can be judged very differently years later. If this episode is triggering, please pause and seek support. • Lifeline: 13 11 14 — https://www.lifeline.org.au • Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 — https://kidshelpline.com.au • 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732 — https://www.1800respect.org.au If you have information that you would like to share, email us anonymously at podshape@proton.me See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:14] Speaker 1: In the last episode of this podcast, you heard the
[0:16] Speaker 1: account of a former detainee of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre.
[0:20] Speaker 1: He was a child when he first went into remand,
[0:24] Speaker 1: before he'd been convicted of any crime, before he had
[0:28] Speaker 1: any real power to protect himself. In that interview, he
[0:32] Speaker 1: spoke carefully about things that happened to him inside that centre,
[0:37] Speaker 1: about the things he says he suffered and the things
[0:40] Speaker 1: he says he watched happen to others. Those allegations were
[0:45] Speaker 1: later the subject of a civil proceeding. The state accepted
[0:48] Speaker 1: liability in a compensation process. The Ashley Youth Detention Centre
[0:54] Speaker 1: is the facility the government, as previously said, would be closed.
[0:59] Speaker 1: That closure... has still not happened. The centre remains very
[1:04] Speaker 1: much open.
[1:05] Speaker 2: This government remains committed to closing the Ashley Youth Detention
[1:09] Speaker 2: Centre as soon as possible, as confirmed and reaffirmed by
[1:13] Speaker 2: the Commission of Inquiry. I note that the opposition during
[1:17] Speaker 2: the election committed to closing the Ashley Youth Detention Centre
[1:20] Speaker 2: sooner than that, which means sooner than possible, and we
[1:24] Speaker 2: know that the position of the Greens and others has
[1:26] Speaker 2: been for immediate, immediate closure.
[1:30] Speaker 3: Now.
[1:31] Speaker 2: Everyone here would agree that the most important thing is
[1:33] Speaker 2: the safety and wellbeing of the young people who find
[1:35] Speaker 2: themselves in detention as a result of decisions.
[1:37] Speaker 4: Of our courts.
[1:39] Speaker 5: If there were more suitable, fit for purpose facilities and
[1:43] Speaker 5: services available to provide for the safety and wellbeing and
[1:46] Speaker 5: the therapeutic care of young people currently in Ashley, we
[1:49] Speaker 5: would be using them right now.
[1:51] Speaker 1: Now, we spoke to this young man in the second
[1:53] Speaker 1: week of January of 2026.
[1:55] Speaker 6: Four days later, he was arrested.
[1:59] Speaker 1: Police allege he breached his bail conditions and was driving
[2:03] Speaker 1: while disqualified. His family tell a different version of that day.
[2:09] Speaker 1: They say he was driving to a pharmacy to collect
[2:12] Speaker 1: prescribed medication for a serious mental health condition. Medication he
[2:17] Speaker 1: needs daily. Medication, they say, he didn't receive for many
[2:22] Speaker 1: hours after being taken into police custody. Now, we don't
[2:26] Speaker 1: know the full details of that case, but what we
[2:28] Speaker 1: do know is this. He was willing to speak publicly
[2:32] Speaker 1: for the first time using his own voice about the
[2:35] Speaker 1: abuse inside the youth detention centre. And within days of
[2:40] Speaker 1: doing so, he was back behind bars. His family have
[2:44] Speaker 1: expressed concerns about how he's been treated since that time. Now,
[2:48] Speaker 1: we're not in a position to independently verify those concerns directly,
[2:53] Speaker 1: And we make no allegations of wrongdoing by Tasmanian police.
[2:57] Speaker 1: But we do wish him and his family well in
[3:00] Speaker 1: what remains a difficult and ongoing situation. In this episode,
[3:11] Speaker 1: we're going to turn to a different story. a story
[3:14] Speaker 1: about documents and decisions, about how an institution responds when
[3:19] Speaker 1: disturbing information begins to surface inside its own walls. The
[3:25] Speaker 1: material you're about to hear comes from Right to Information Requests.
[3:29] Speaker 1: It concerns the late Paul Reynolds and the police funeral
[3:32] Speaker 1: that was held for him in September of 2018. By
[3:37] Speaker 1: that time, Reynolds was already the subject of serious allegations
[3:41] Speaker 1: known within professional standards. The decision to grant a police
[3:45] Speaker 1: funeral rests with one person, the Commissioner of Police. And
[3:51] Speaker 1: at that time, that person was Mr Darren Hine. Now
[3:56] Speaker 1: before we go any further, we want to be precise.
[3:59] Speaker 1: We don't allege Mr Hine had any prior knowledge of Reynolds'
[4:02] Speaker 1: alleged conduct before being formally briefed. We do not allege
[4:07] Speaker 1: that Mr Hine acted unlawfully, corruptly or with any personal wrongdoings.
[4:13] Speaker 1: What follows is a simple timeline of events drawn from
[4:17] Speaker 1: official records, not to assign personal blame, but to understand
[4:21] Speaker 1: how this decision unfolded. As you've heard, on September 12, 2018,
[4:28] Speaker 1: professional standards raided the home of Paul Reynolds. The next day,
[4:32] Speaker 1: Reynolds took his own life. Five days later, on September 17,
[4:38] Speaker 1: Commissioner Hines sent a formal briefing note to the then
[4:41] Speaker 1: police minister, Michael Ferguson. That document matters, because in it,
[4:47] Speaker 1: the Commissioner sets out three things. First, that professional standards
[4:52] Speaker 1: had executed a search warrant of Reynolds' home. Second, the
[4:57] Speaker 1: allegations had emerged involving the exchange of explicit materials between
[5:01] Speaker 1: mail use and Reynolds. And third, that a police funeral
[5:06] Speaker 1: was scheduled to take place just two days later, on
[5:09] Speaker 1: September 19.
[5:09] Speaker 6: That funeral... went ahead.
[5:13] Speaker 1: Full ceremonial honours, a guard of honour and senior officers
[5:18] Speaker 1: in attendance. Commissioner Hine delivered the eulogy. Here's part of
[5:24] Speaker 1: that eulogy from Reynolds' funeral. These are his words but
[5:28] Speaker 1: not his voice.
[5:29] Speaker 7: Beau successfully completed many courses throughout his career and he
[5:33] Speaker 7: put those skills to good use wherever he served. His
[5:37] Speaker 7: loss will be deeply felt across Tasmania Police. and our
[5:41] Speaker 7: thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time.
[5:45] Speaker 1: The briefing notes sent from Hind to the then police
[5:48] Speaker 1: minister itself did not come back signed by the minister
[5:51] Speaker 1: until October 8. In 2024, Michael Ferguson, the then police minister,
[5:57] Speaker 1: was interviewed by the ABC Drive program.
[5:59] Speaker 6: Drive with Lucy Braden. This is where Hobart conversations begin.
[6:04] Speaker 6: On ABC Radio Hobart.
[6:07] Speaker 8: Senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds, who served as a police officer
[6:11] Speaker 8: for almost 40 years, died by suicide in September 2018.
[6:15] Speaker 8: This was while he was under investigation by Tasmania police
[6:18] Speaker 8: into allegations of child sexual abuse. So what did Michael
[6:24] Speaker 8: Ferguson know and when?
[6:25] Speaker 9: Good afternoon.
[6:27] Speaker 6: So what happened? When did you find out?
[6:31] Speaker 1: This interview was close to election time in Tasmania. And
[6:35] Speaker 1: it was brought forward because of an RTI submission made
[6:39] Speaker 1: by the Tasmanian Greens.
[6:41] Speaker 10: One thing you may have wanted to mention in your
[6:43] Speaker 10: introduction is that the Greens have received information under quite
[6:47] Speaker 10: open and transparent RTI, which occurred last November. And then
[6:51] Speaker 10: we get these questions held until this particular period of time.
[6:55] Speaker 10: What is clear from the documents is that we're going
[6:58] Speaker 10: back five and a half years ago. I've also had
[7:01] Speaker 10: to refresh myself on the contents of the documents and
[7:04] Speaker 10: it's quite clear that the advice that was provided to
[7:07] Speaker 10: me by the then police commissioner in my then role
[7:10] Speaker 10: as police minister was signed by me on the 8th
[7:14] Speaker 10: of October.
[7:15] Speaker 1: The contentious issue that was raised by the ABC was
[7:19] Speaker 1: when the police minister saw that briefing note that was
[7:21] Speaker 1: sent from the commissioner of police to the minister, what
[7:24] Speaker 1: did he do and when did he see it?
[7:28] Speaker 10: I've been very open and I've made it clear that
[7:30] Speaker 10: it would be very customary for me to sign a
[7:32] Speaker 10: brief as soon as I've read it. I signed that
[7:35] Speaker 10: brief on the 8th of October. Any suggestion that's been
[7:38] Speaker 10: made today by the Greens or the Labor Party five
[7:42] Speaker 10: days before an election that there was any attempt at
[7:44] Speaker 10: cover-up is plainly wrong and proven wrong by the fact
[7:48] Speaker 10: that the document that we're all talking about contains details
[7:52] Speaker 10: of two investigations into the late Paul Reynolds' behaviour.
[7:57] Speaker 1: The question posed from the ABC journalist in Hobart was,
[8:01] Speaker 1: why is this very important briefing document that seemed to
[8:04] Speaker 1: be high priority to be signed, why did it take
[8:07] Speaker 1: almost three weeks to make its way back to the
[8:10] Speaker 1: Commissioner's office on October 8th?
[8:13] Speaker 10: Well, it's a fair question. Can I just let you
[8:15] Speaker 10: and your listeners know that as Ministers we receive many documents,
[8:19] Speaker 10: many briefing notes and many minutes. Minutes are decisions for
[8:22] Speaker 10: Ministers and they would require an approval or a.
[8:26] Speaker 6: Rejection and Why did it sit on your desk for
[8:29] Speaker 6: three weeks?
[8:31] Speaker 10: Well, first of all, I can't agree with that because
[8:33] Speaker 10: we can't know exactly. We're going back five and a
[8:35] Speaker 10: half years and I can't answer that part of the question.
[8:38] Speaker 10: What I can say is that importantly, I mean, my
[8:42] Speaker 10: whole career, I have stood against firmly crimes against children.
[8:46] Speaker 1: The questioning went on for some time and the big
[8:49] Speaker 1: question that was posed was what were the steps taken
[8:53] Speaker 1: to ensure this never happens again?
[8:56] Speaker 10: Well, first of all, a proper investigation. I mean, you've
[8:59] Speaker 10: got to get to the bottom of these matters, the
[9:01] Speaker 10: facts of the matter. And they, of course, were being
[9:03] Speaker 10: done by an independent coroner, which is like the magistrate's court,
[9:09] Speaker 10: totally separate from police. And secondly, the police themselves. And
[9:13] Speaker 10: I would urge the same in the future as well,
[9:15] Speaker 10: because the truth must come out when crimes against children
[9:18] Speaker 10: are committed and any allegation needs to be tested and
[9:21] Speaker 10: investigated so that justice can be done and seen to
[9:25] Speaker 10: be done.
[9:26] Speaker 1: The questioning of Mr Ferguson continued on the ABC Drive
[9:30] Speaker 1: program around what he did post seeing the briefing document,
[9:34] Speaker 1: which spoke of allegations of Reynolds being a pedophile.
[9:39] Speaker 8: So when you read the note, when was your call
[9:42] Speaker 8: to the then Police Commissioner Darren Hine?
[9:45] Speaker 10: Well, I'm not able to answer that right now because
[9:47] Speaker 10: I don't have that information, Lucy. If I did, I
[9:49] Speaker 10: would tell you.
[9:50] Speaker 6: Was it relatively quickly, would you say? Days later?
[9:53] Speaker 10: I'm not able to answer that question. I'm not avoiding it.
[9:56] Speaker 10: I don't know. I'd be going back to October 2018
[9:58] Speaker 10: to know the answer to that.
[10:02] Speaker 6: Why didn't you trigger an independent review at the time?
[10:05] Speaker 10: Well, there was an independent review underway at that time.
[10:08] Speaker 1: I wanted to stop at this point because this document
[10:11] Speaker 1: was signed on October 8 by the then police minister
[10:15] Speaker 1: and sent back to the then Commissioner Darren Hine in 2018.
[10:21] Speaker 1: From our research, there is no record of an independent
[10:24] Speaker 1: review that was taking place at the time. The coronial
[10:28] Speaker 1: process was underway, which happens as a matter of law
[10:32] Speaker 1: after a reportable death. The Reynolds Coronial Matter had a
[10:36] Speaker 1: case management conference on the 27th of May 2022, almost
[10:41] Speaker 1: four years later. This included the three other officers who
[10:45] Speaker 1: also died by their own hand. The hearing dates for
[10:49] Speaker 1: these happened in November and December of 2022. The Weiss
[10:54] Speaker 1: review happened in 2024 and a police professional standards investigation
[11:00] Speaker 1: was stopped once Reynolds took his own life in 2018.
[11:05] Speaker 8: When will you have more information about that call to
[11:08] Speaker 8: the then police commissioner about what you had read?
[11:10] Speaker 6: When will we hear more about that?
[11:12] Speaker 10: Well, I don't know the answer to the question. I honestly,
[11:16] Speaker 10: you know, I understand your curiosity, but I noted a
[11:19] Speaker 10: brief which told me at that time that it was
[11:22] Speaker 10: being properly investigated by the coroner and by police professional standards.
[11:27] Speaker 10: So I'm not sure I will be able to provide
[11:29] Speaker 10: you with that because, you know, the information was noted,
[11:32] Speaker 10: which means it's been understood and it's then on those
[11:36] Speaker 10: other agencies to get on with the investigation and ensure
[11:39] Speaker 10: that justice is served.
[11:41] Speaker 1: A few months after this interview on the ABC, Mr
[11:44] Speaker 1: Ferguson was questioned in Parliament's House of Assembly in relation
[11:48] Speaker 1: to Reynolds' funeral and some other claims that were uncovered
[11:51] Speaker 1: in the RTI.
[11:54] Speaker 11: Right to information documents reveal on the 15th of September,
[11:58] Speaker 11: four days before you gave a full police funeral to
[12:02] Speaker 11: the disgraced pedophile police officer Paul Reynolds... Mark Shelton contacted
[12:08] Speaker 11: your then department seeking background information for a condolence speech
[12:13] Speaker 11: he was planning to make to the Parliament. His office
[12:16] Speaker 11: told the department there was, and I will quote, no
[12:19] Speaker 11: doubt that Mr Shelton would wish to make a condolence
[12:23] Speaker 11: speech given his long association with Paul Reynolds and requested
[12:28] Speaker 11: the information be provided as a priority item. However, Mr
[12:32] Speaker 11: Shelton never gave the condolence speech. Did you or your
[12:36] Speaker 11: office inform him of the allegations against Paul Reynolds?
[12:41] Speaker 6: Good question, Deputy Premier.
[12:44] Speaker 10: Madam Speaker, I'm grateful for the opportunity to respond to
[12:46] Speaker 10: this question because of the very regrettable way that this
[12:50] Speaker 10: was brought up during the election campaign. And I've spoken
[12:53] Speaker 10: very openly and in an extended period of time including
[12:58] Speaker 10: in front of the Tasmanian public through media conference to
[13:01] Speaker 10: give a full account of myself of the events that
[13:03] Speaker 10: occurred more than five years ago. And Madam Speaker, I
[13:07] Speaker 10: was very disappointed that in the heat of an election
[13:10] Speaker 10: battle that I would be accused in the way that
[13:13] Speaker 10: I was, more by the Labor Party, but it was
[13:16] Speaker 10: initiated by the Greens, who had received an RTI, I
[13:19] Speaker 10: believe it was back in around November of last year,
[13:21] Speaker 10: but sat on it until the election. Now, I am appalled.
[13:26] Speaker 10: I am appalled, Madam Speaker. I'd like to be heard,
[13:29] Speaker 10: Madam Speaker. I am appalled at any instance of the
[13:32] Speaker 10: most horrific of crimes against children and vulnerable people.
[13:36] Speaker 6: And I share with every member of this.
[13:37] Speaker 10: House, at the horrors that we've come to understand were
[13:41] Speaker 10: inflicted by the late Mr Paul Reynolds, a serving inspector
[13:45] Speaker 10: in Tasmania Police. And I was the police minister at
[13:48] Speaker 10: the time when he took his own life after professional
[13:51] Speaker 10: standards had begun and investigation.
[13:56] Speaker 6: I would invite members, including the.
[13:58] Speaker 10: One, Ms Butler, who just asked me that question, to
[14:01] Speaker 10: do what I have done and examine the documents in
[14:05] Speaker 10: relation to the RTI, which is the only physical documents
[14:08] Speaker 10: I have as well, to refresh myself on the events
[14:11] Speaker 10: of that case.
[14:13] Speaker 1: Later in that same sitting, Mr Ferguson was questioned by
[14:17] Speaker 1: another member.
[14:19] Speaker 11: During the recent election campaign, you repeatedly stated you were
[14:23] Speaker 11: not aware of the allegations against Mr Reynolds until the
[14:27] Speaker 11: police funeral had been held. How is that possible, given
[14:31] Speaker 11: it appears your office has advised Mr Shelton not to
[14:34] Speaker 11: make the condolence speech he had planned? And why were
[14:38] Speaker 11: you able to warn Mr Shelton but not stop the
[14:41] Speaker 11: police funeral from going ahead?
[14:43] Speaker 10: Madam Speaker, I wish to differ from the member who
[14:48] Speaker 10: has claimed things that I have said. I've made it
[14:51] Speaker 10: very clear that going back to events of more than
[14:54] Speaker 10: five years ago, and I've got a good memory, but
[14:57] Speaker 10: I've only been able to go in relation to the
[15:00] Speaker 10: documents that everybody has available to them. I did not
[15:04] Speaker 10: approve the police funeral. Nor could I have stopped it.
[15:10] Speaker 10: It was a decision of the Commissioner, and I hope
[15:13] Speaker 10: you will be aware of the separation of powers in
[15:15] Speaker 10: this case.
[15:16] Speaker 9: That's right.
[15:19] Speaker 10: We have not been party to covering up of this matter,
[15:22] Speaker 10: but I can say that as Minister for Police, I
[15:25] Speaker 10: had no involvement in that decision. Police funerals are at
[15:29] Speaker 10: the discretion of the Commissioner. Now, with the benefit of
[15:33] Speaker 10: hindsight that we all have, it shouldn't have happened. It
[15:39] Speaker 10: should not have happened that a funeral with full honours
[15:42] Speaker 10: should not have occurred.
[15:43] Speaker 6: Deputy Premier, can I ask you to resume your seat
[15:45] Speaker 6: while I take a point of order?
[15:46] Speaker 9: Ms Butler?
[15:47] Speaker 11: The Deputy Premier is not understanding the question or fails
[15:51] Speaker 11: to answer the question.
[15:53] Speaker 1: Relevance.
[15:54] Speaker 11: My question was not around the information you're providing now.
[15:58] Speaker 11: My question was, did you stop the condolence motion from proceeding?
[16:03] Speaker 7: Thank you, Premier.
[16:05] Speaker 10: Well, actually, I did answer that question, Madam Speaker, where
[16:07] Speaker 10: I said I am only able to refresh my own
[16:13] Speaker 10: memory on the basis of those documents that were released,
[16:16] Speaker 10: which I believe all members have the same set of documents,
[16:19] Speaker 10: to refresh myself on those matters. But I want to emphasise,
[16:23] Speaker 10: although I don't have that RTI with me right now—
[16:26] Speaker 10: I know that it says that Mr Reynolds may have
[16:29] Speaker 10: committed these horrible events, these horrible acts, and that they
[16:34] Speaker 10: were being investigated. They hadn't been established, but there were
[16:38] Speaker 10: two separate investigations at that point in time underway at
[16:43] Speaker 10: the point when I noted the brief, which I as
[16:46] Speaker 10: police minister noting it wasn't a minute for decision, it
[16:50] Speaker 10: was a brief for my information. And the information made
[16:54] Speaker 10: clear that Mr. Reynolds, despite the fact that his life
[16:57] Speaker 10: had ended, was being still nonetheless investigated through two separate processes.
[17:03] Speaker 9: One, the Professional Standards.
[17:04] Speaker 10: Unit in Tasmania Police, and secondly, the Coroner's Court, which
[17:08] Speaker 10: of course, both of those processes... are independent of the
[17:12] Speaker 10: elected government and me as minister. And I will now refute, again,
[17:16] Speaker 10: I think for the third time, what the member is
[17:19] Speaker 10: trying to do here, which is to try to somehow establish,
[17:25] Speaker 10: Madam Speaker, somehow establish a connection between myself and Mr
[17:29] Speaker 10: Shelton in relation to those matters. I cannot verify one
[17:33] Speaker 10: way or the other what was known in those days,
[17:36] Speaker 10: but I can verify that the government played no role
[17:40] Speaker 10: in the allowance of a police funeral.
[17:45] Speaker 1: Years after Reynolds died, the current Commissioner of Police, Donna Adams,
[17:49] Speaker 1: would apologise for the decision to hold a funeral. Mr
[17:53] Speaker 1: Darren Hine, the former Police Commissioner, retired in October 2022
[17:57] Speaker 1: after more than 40 years in the police service. One
[18:02] Speaker 1: month later, the coronial hearing began into the deaths of
[18:06] Speaker 1: Paul Reynolds and three other officers.
[18:09] Speaker 12: Mr.
[18:09] Speaker 1: Hine provided an affidavit to those proceedings. Now, for the
[18:13] Speaker 1: past four months, we've tried to contact Mr. Hine to
[18:16] Speaker 1: give him the chance to have his say. To date,
[18:19] Speaker 1: we've not heard back, but we do have an open
[18:22] Speaker 1: invitation for him to join us anytime. I want to
[18:27] Speaker 1: now turn briefly to Mr. Hine's service history. not to
[18:31] Speaker 1: imply knowledge, not to imply complicity, but to understand the
[18:35] Speaker 1: institutional context in which these decisions were made. Mr Hine
[18:39] Speaker 1: joined the Police Academy in February 1980. Paul Reynolds joined
[18:45] Speaker 1: on the same day. Official posting records then placed them
[18:49] Speaker 1: together in Burnie in 1981 and again in 1984, two
[18:55] Speaker 1: documented periods where they were stationed at the same location
[18:59] Speaker 1: at the same time. There's no evidence of wrongdoing between them,
[19:04] Speaker 1: but their early careers clearly overlapped. Over the decades, Mr
[19:09] Speaker 1: Hine rose steadily through the ranks. Inspector, superintendent, acting commissioner,
[19:15] Speaker 1: and then, in 2010, was officially made commissioner of police.
[19:21] Speaker 1: After two years acting in the job, Darren Hine becomes
[19:23] Speaker 1: the permanent police commissioner.
[19:25] Speaker 10: He's been in the service for 30 years and says
[19:28] Speaker 10: morale is good.
[19:29] Speaker 13: We've got crime the last we ever have, from 60,000
[19:33] Speaker 13: down to under 30,000. We want to continue that. But
[19:37] Speaker 13: we've still got some challenges. Stolen motor vehicles are a challenge.
[19:39] Speaker 13: Some home burglaries are a challenge for us. So we
[19:41] Speaker 13: want to make our community as safe as we possibly can.
[19:45] Speaker 1: By the time Mr Hine was appointed Commissioner in 2010,
[19:49] Speaker 1: Tasmanian police was already emerging from a period of deep
[19:53] Speaker 1: institutional turmoil. His predecessor, Commissioner Jack Johnston, had stood aside
[19:59] Speaker 1: in 2008 after allegations that he had exposed official secrets.
[20:05] Speaker 4: The secrets he's alleged to have revealed relate to a
[20:07] Speaker 4: police investigation into claims about political favours. The police commissioner
[20:12] Speaker 4: was arrested this morning and appeared in the Hobart Magistrates' Court.
[20:17] Speaker 1: In 2009, criminal charges against Mr Johnston were permanently stayed
[20:20] Speaker 1: by the Supreme Court, but he never returned to his
[20:23] Speaker 1: police commissioner role. In 2010, Mr Johnston resigned from Tasmanian
[20:29] Speaker 1: Police with a payout reported at $ 700, 000. Subsequent findings held
[20:36] Speaker 1: that the allegations of corruption against him were baseless. By then,
[20:40] Speaker 1: public confidence in the leadership of Tasmanian Police had already
[20:44] Speaker 1: been badly damaged. It was in that context of police
[20:49] Speaker 1: service under intense scrutiny, recovering from a leadership crisis, that
[20:53] Speaker 1: Darren Hine was appointed Commissioner. Mr Hine inherited an organisation
[21:00] Speaker 1: already grappling with questions about transparency, accountability and trust. During
[21:06] Speaker 1: his 14-year tenure as Commissioner of Police, Mr Hine presided
[21:10] Speaker 1: over moments that shaped Tasmanian police. Moments like in 1996.
[21:16] Speaker 1: Darren Hine was part of the senior command response to
[21:19] Speaker 1: the Port Arthur massacre, one of the most traumatic events
[21:23] Speaker 1: in Australian policing history.
[21:25] Speaker 11: More than 30 people are dead and 18 injured after
[21:28] Speaker 11: the 19-year-old gunman.
[21:29] Speaker 9: Opened fire with a rifle in a Port.
[21:32] Speaker 6: Arthur coffee shop.
[21:33] Speaker 8: Witnesses say the victims included a baby, several children and
[21:37] Speaker 8: interstate and overseas tourists.
[21:39] Speaker 1: It was an experience that shaped an entire generation of
[21:42] Speaker 1: senior officers. and one that later informed how Tasmanian police
[21:46] Speaker 1: approached crisis, scrutiny and public accountability.
[21:49] Speaker 3: No, we don't understand why it's happened. That is one
[21:52] Speaker 3: of the major issues confronting the police at the moment.
[21:55] Speaker 3: What demands has he made? I can't tell you what
[21:58] Speaker 3: the demands are. I think that would be wrong at
[22:00] Speaker 3: this stage to tell you that because we're in the
[22:02] Speaker 3: negotiating period with the man. Of course, what we're trying
[22:05] Speaker 3: to achieve is for him to give himself up and
[22:09] Speaker 3: go before the courts.
[22:11] Speaker 1: After the Port Arthur massacre, there were internal reviews inside
[22:14] Speaker 1: TASPOL around historical investigative failures. There were public apologies for
[22:20] Speaker 1: missed opportunities to stop known offenders. Mr Hine really became
[22:24] Speaker 1: the face of institutional reckoning. Although Darren Hine was not
[22:29] Speaker 1: a police officer in 1969 when Lucille Butterworth disappeared, he
[22:34] Speaker 1: was commissioner decades later when the coronial inquest concluded. and
[22:38] Speaker 1: when Tasmania Police formally acknowledged the failures of the original investigation.
[22:42] Speaker 14: Whilst I cannot bring Lucille back or make right the
[22:46] Speaker 14: wrongs that were done in the initial investigation, but I
[22:49] Speaker 14: can certainly offer my apologies for the way Tasmania Police
[22:53] Speaker 14: conducted the investigation back in 1969.
[22:56] Speaker 1: But Lucille was not the only reckoning of his tenure.
[23:00] Speaker 1: Commissioner Hine also led the police through the findings of
[23:03] Speaker 1: the Commission of Inquiry into Institutional Child Abuse. An inquiry
[23:08] Speaker 1: that examined how allegations against serving and former officers had
[23:11] Speaker 1: been handled and how failure of oversight had allowed harm
[23:15] Speaker 1: to persist for decades.
[23:18] Speaker 4: Most recently over the handling of abuse allegations highlighted during
[23:22] Speaker 4: the commission of inquiry.
[23:24] Speaker 12: I've never been afraid to come out and.
[23:26] Speaker 14: Apologise for where we can do better and we should
[23:29] Speaker 14: do better.
[23:30] Speaker 1: In interviews with the ABC and the Mercury newspaper, he
[23:33] Speaker 1: spoke openly about how damaging institutional failure can be. how
[23:38] Speaker 1: demoralising unfair suspicion can be and how hard it is
[23:42] Speaker 1: for the police service to confront its own mistakes. He
[23:46] Speaker 1: acknowledged that police culture encouraged officers to internalise trauma, stay
[23:50] Speaker 1: silent and move on, a mindset he later described as
[23:54] Speaker 1: absolutely the wrong thing to do. And he accepted that
[23:57] Speaker 1: while he could not undo the past, he carried responsibility
[24:01] Speaker 1: for how the institution accounted for it. Here's an article
[24:05] Speaker 1: from the Mercury in Tasmania written by Amber Wilson. These
[24:08] Speaker 1: are her words, but not her voice.
[24:12] Speaker 4: He's also publicly apologised for the instances in which Tasmania
[24:17] Speaker 4: police failed to act on notifications about Griffin, the now
[24:22] Speaker 4: infamous Launceston General Hospital nurse and prolific pedophile, losing opportunities
[24:28] Speaker 4: to stop the predator in his tracks. However, Commissioner Hines
[24:33] Speaker 4: said it could be demoralising when subjected to unfair criticism,
[24:38] Speaker 4: such as the conspiracy theories.
[24:40] Speaker 9: That had sprung up about Port Arthur.
[24:43] Speaker 4: We know there's various websites supporting the conspiracy theory, he said.
[24:49] Speaker 9: I was down there. I was part of the response.
[24:52] Speaker 4: I also feel for the other police officers involved.
[24:56] Speaker 9: In some of these conspiracy theories.
[24:58] Speaker 4: I know they're professional, I know they've done the job
[25:01] Speaker 4: really well, but it is demoralising to some of those
[25:05] Speaker 4: people and the community that have either lost someone or
[25:09] Speaker 4: had to deal with Port Arthur. Commissioner Hine has also
[25:13] Speaker 4: weighed in to the ongoing debate around Sue Neal Fraser's
[25:18] Speaker 4: murder conviction, previously saying only selective arguments were used by
[25:24] Speaker 4: her supporters.
[25:28] Speaker 1: In October 2022, Hine retired. Weeks later, the coronial inquest
[25:34] Speaker 1: into Reynolds began. In an interview on the ABC, the
[25:38] Speaker 1: police whistleblower that brought the allegations about Reynolds to light
[25:42] Speaker 1: told the interviewer.
[25:44] Speaker 12: Paul was not only a well-respected member of the community,
[25:48] Speaker 12: he was a well-respected member of the football community that
[25:51] Speaker 12: I participated in. He openly admitted that he had a
[25:55] Speaker 12: very strong friendship with the Commissioner of Police. I was
[25:58] Speaker 12: a young, aspiring police officer at the time. He was
[26:01] Speaker 12: well-connected within the service. He was a well-connected person within
[26:05] Speaker 12: the community.
[26:07] Speaker 1: Now, we want to state clearly, we don't allege that
[26:09] Speaker 1: Mr Hine knew of Paul Reynolds' alleged conduct before being
[26:12] Speaker 1: formally briefed. We do not allege that he acted improperly
[26:17] Speaker 1: or corruptly. This is not a story about personal guilt
[26:21] Speaker 1: It's a story about process, about timing and how institutions
[26:27] Speaker 1: make decisions when serious information is emerging and when those
[26:32] Speaker 1: decisions years later are judged very differently.

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