# The Documents They Won’t Release

An episode of [Badge of Betrayal](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1852919243), 13 Mar 2026, 20 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/fbab9570-a7a3-4fd4-a673-b3940044b1b8/5e2522bd-7b35-4bb5-9166-b40c003bfae9/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=2f1fa4b5-119b-41b5-8749-b3940044b5a4

There’s a reason this episode took longer to release. After our last episode aired, we were contacted by multiple independent sources urging us not to drop the story. What they shared raised new questions we couldn’t ignore. In this episode, we follow a name that continues to surface in connection with events in Burnie decades ago. We also examine new figures from Tasmania Police that reveal a growing number of serious internal complaints and a pattern that appears again and again inside the system. Finally, we reveal the outcome of a Right to Information request seeking documents about a controversial decision involving multiple police deaths. The department confirmed the documents exist. But they won’t release them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:13] Speaker 1: There's been a bit of a delay in releasing this
[0:15] Speaker 1: latest episode as I speak with numerous independent sources about
[0:19] Speaker 1: some of the information we brought you in the last episode.
[0:23] Speaker 1: We left you with the details of the blue light
[0:25] Speaker 1: disco scene in Burnie and the name Brett Hine. Brett
[0:29] Speaker 1: Hine is the brother of former Police Commissioner of Tasmania,
[0:33] Speaker 1: Darren Hine. Again, that doesn't intimate anything. It's simply that
[0:37] Speaker 1: they were family members. There have been other members of
[0:41] Speaker 1: the Hind family that have come forward to us. They
[0:44] Speaker 1: want to stay anonymous. But in their email to us,
[0:47] Speaker 1: they ask.
[0:48] Speaker 2: Please don't drop this as those responsible need to be
[0:51] Speaker 2: held to account.
[0:53] Speaker 1: We won't stop chasing and looking into what many believe
[0:56] Speaker 1: are systemic issues within the wider Tasmanian police force. These
[1:01] Speaker 1: numerous family members have contacted us independently of each other
[1:05] Speaker 1: via our confidential email address oddshape at proton.me. Brett Anthony
[1:14] Speaker 1: Hine died by his own hand on the 26th of
[1:18] Speaker 1: June 1993. He was cremated and his memorial reads.
[1:24] Speaker 2: Brett Anthony Hine, born the 28th of September 1960... Died
[1:29] Speaker 2: the 26th of June, 1993. Loved husband of * * * *.
[1:33] Speaker 2: Loving father of.
[1:35] Speaker 3: * * * *.
[1:37] Speaker 1: On the top left-hand corner of the memorial plaque, there
[1:40] Speaker 1: is a plane. In the bottom right-hand corner, there's an angel.
[1:44] Speaker 1: Brett was a keen pilot and loved planes. The inscription
[1:48] Speaker 1: on the plaque is a little more telling. It says.
[1:52] Speaker 2: Up where angels fly, in forgiveness we find peace.
[1:55] Speaker 1: Now, I'm not looking to cause any undue pain on
[1:59] Speaker 1: the family that have lost a loved one. But given
[2:02] Speaker 1: the circumstances that have been alleged on why Brett Hine
[2:05] Speaker 1: took his own life, I think it's important to bring
[2:07] Speaker 1: them to light in this podcast. Brett was a member
[2:11] Speaker 1: of the Air Cadets in Burnie when he left school.
[2:16] Speaker 1: After climbing the ranks, Brett became what they call a senior.
[2:19] Speaker 1: A senior in the Air Cadets usually refers to a high-ranking,
[2:23] Speaker 1: experienced cadet. responsible for leading and mentoring junior members and
[2:28] Speaker 1: helping run training programs. They've often advanced beyond basic training,
[2:34] Speaker 1: often holding the ranks like sergeant or flight sergeant, and
[2:38] Speaker 1: act as key leaders within the squadron, essentially responsible for
[2:42] Speaker 1: instructing junior cadets and assisting in the management of squadron activities.
[2:47] Speaker 1: In some cases, senior can also refer to an adult volunteer.
[2:53] Speaker 1: The allegations from numerous family members is that Brett was
[2:56] Speaker 1: being investigated by police for child sex offences at the
[3:00] Speaker 1: Air Cadets. It happened after a young boy came forward
[3:04] Speaker 1: to his parents about the alleged offences. Before police could
[3:09] Speaker 1: search his house, Brett took his own life. Brett was
[3:15] Speaker 1: never a police officer. He owned a business in South
[3:18] Speaker 1: Burnie called BH Radiators. There is no implication of Brett's
[3:24] Speaker 1: alleged offending on any member of the Hind family. Tasmania
[3:32] Speaker 1: Police recently released the Professional Standards Report for 2025. These
[3:38] Speaker 1: table the complaints made both internally and externally to TASPOL.
[3:43] Speaker 1: Across 2025, there were 514 allegations recorded against Tasmanian Police.
[3:51] Speaker 1: The number of serious officer misconduct has more than doubled
[3:55] Speaker 1: in three years. Now, these are called Level 3 complaints,
[3:59] Speaker 1: which are a category reserved for alleged criminal behaviour that
[4:03] Speaker 1: could justify dismissal. It climbed to 34 in 2025, the
[4:09] Speaker 1: highest since the reporting began in 2023. 15 of those
[4:13] Speaker 1: complaints were raised by the public and 19 were raised
[4:17] Speaker 1: internally by other police officers. The question has been asked
[4:23] Speaker 1: by numerous people to us. Is this because more offending
[4:27] Speaker 1: is happening right now? Or is it that more than ever,
[4:30] Speaker 1: some police in Tasmania are sick of the bad rap
[4:34] Speaker 1: a handful of officers are giving TASPOL?
[4:38] Speaker 4: Look, I would say at the moment we have more
[4:41] Speaker 4: serious misconduct or serious criminal allegations into police than we've
[4:46] Speaker 4: ever had in Tasmania Police. And some of those.
[4:50] Speaker 4: Because we haven't done well in the past, and some
[4:53] Speaker 4: of them are now... Because we just have, you know,
[4:57] Speaker 4: people that are perhaps getting in the job, not staying
[5:01] Speaker 4: in the job a long time and acting badly, OK?
[5:05] Speaker 4: Our process was previously in small jurisdictions. Everyone knows everyone,
[5:11] Speaker 4: and it would be hard to act, you know, with
[5:14] Speaker 4: impunity or without people knowing. But now, as we grow
[5:17] Speaker 4: as an organisation... There are clearly pockets of people that
[5:22] Speaker 4: see things as socially more acceptable. Drug use, even minor
[5:26] Speaker 4: drug trafficking, I guess.
[5:28] Speaker 3: Most of our police are great people who put their
[5:30] Speaker 3: lives on the line for Tasmanians every day. This is
[5:33] Speaker 3: about systemic problems in our police force and a group
[5:36] Speaker 3: of rotten apples at the top who aren't doing anything
[5:39] Speaker 3: to clean it up. As a matter of fact, if
[5:42] Speaker 3: they did as much cleaning up as what they do
[5:43] Speaker 3: covering up.
[5:44] Speaker 1: It'd be better off. Our police whistleblower... who is the
[5:49] Speaker 1: current serving officer, told us domestic violence and violence levels
[5:53] Speaker 1: within the force is at an alarming rate.
[5:57] Speaker 4: The thing that surprised me at the moment is the
[6:00] Speaker 4: level of both family violence allegations and sexual crime allegations
[6:04] Speaker 4: that are.
[6:07] Speaker 4: Almost at epidemic proportions within the police force, within our
[6:10] Speaker 4: police force. Traditionally, when the allegations are serious enough, people
[6:14] Speaker 4: are then unavailable for duty, OK? So they're either stood
[6:17] Speaker 4: down with or without pay or they quite often will
[6:22] Speaker 4: elect to try and go off on sick leave to
[6:27] Speaker 4: avoid scrutiny and that always leaves a gap. So there's
[6:31] Speaker 4: actually a massive amount of absenteeism at the moment in
[6:35] Speaker 4: our police force. And a lot of that is to
[6:37] Speaker 4: do with family violence and sexual misconduct and other misconduct
[6:41] Speaker 4: at the moment.
[6:44] Speaker 1: That's backed up by this report. There were multiple violence-related allegations,
[6:48] Speaker 1: including one case that was first received in 2023, which
[6:52] Speaker 1: resulted in an officer's termination. Another case in April of
[6:58] Speaker 1: 2024 alleged three counts of family violence, which resulted in
[7:02] Speaker 1: an investigation, and then the officer resigned. The Deputy Commissioner
[7:07] Speaker 1: of Police, Jonathan Higgins, released a media statement alongside this report.
[7:12] Speaker 1: These are his words, but not his voice.
[7:15] Speaker 5: Recognising the thousands of interactions that we have with the
[7:18] Speaker 5: community each year, the figure of complaints is comparatively low,
[7:22] Speaker 5: but it is vital that all complaints are appropriately responded to, investigated,
[7:27] Speaker 5: action taken if required, and that we publicly report on
[7:30] Speaker 5: these important matters. The Tasmanian community has high expectations of
[7:34] Speaker 5: its policing service and we are entrusted with significant powers
[7:37] Speaker 5: to perform our duties to keep people safe. When a
[7:39] Speaker 5: complaint is made, either by a member of the community
[7:42] Speaker 5: or raised internally by another police officer, the community must
[7:45] Speaker 5: have confidence that these matters are investigated appropriately and outcomes
[7:49] Speaker 5: are publicly available. The number of internally raised matters reflects
[7:53] Speaker 5: the importance of holding ourselves and our colleagues accountable for
[7:56] Speaker 5: behaving in line with our values.
[8:01] Speaker 1: It's important to note that although this is the highest
[8:04] Speaker 1: amount of breaches that have been recorded since 2023, the
[8:08] Speaker 1: Department of Professional Standards dismissed over 36% of the investigations,
[8:13] Speaker 1: finding no breach. However, the overview of this report is
[8:18] Speaker 1: pretty damning. Tasmania Police is a relatively small force. It's
[8:23] Speaker 1: just over 1,400 sworn officers policing the entire state. but
[8:28] Speaker 1: in a single reporting year, more than 500 allegations were
[8:32] Speaker 1: made against members of that force. It's 514 to be exact. Now,
[8:38] Speaker 1: if you do the math, 514 allegations in a force
[8:43] Speaker 1: roughly 1,400 officers, that means about 36% the size of
[8:48] Speaker 1: the entire police force. Now, that doesn't mean 514 individual
[8:54] Speaker 1: officers were accused. Sometimes complaints involved the same officer more
[8:58] Speaker 1: than once, or multiple allegations within a single case. But
[9:03] Speaker 1: it does give a sense of the scale of complaints
[9:05] Speaker 1: made against the force in a single year. As we
[9:08] Speaker 1: dig beneath those headlines, there are a couple of other
[9:11] Speaker 1: interesting pieces, which we believe connect to our reporting across
[9:15] Speaker 1: the last 14 episodes. As we step individually through those
[9:21] Speaker 1: 514 complaints, one by one, there's some other interesting and
[9:27] Speaker 1: worrying stats around the allegations. In particular, the allegation of
[9:33] Speaker 1: failure to maintain confidentiality. What this means is an officer
[9:38] Speaker 1: allegedly shared confidential police information they weren't supposed to. Telling
[9:43] Speaker 1: someone about an investigation, maybe sharing personal information from police systems,
[9:49] Speaker 1: or discussing sensitive cases outside authorised channels. This was alleged
[9:54] Speaker 1: 12 times. Mostly, these were police reporting other police. Of
[10:01] Speaker 1: the 12 allegations, only one of these was found to
[10:04] Speaker 1: be incorrect. in breach. There was also another significant finding
[10:11] Speaker 1: that related to a single integrity commission investigation. There were
[10:16] Speaker 1: 24 separate misconduct matters that all related to police accessing
[10:21] Speaker 1: a government database. Another pattern that appears throughout the report
[10:26] Speaker 1: is the number of cases that end with the officer resigning.
[10:30] Speaker 1: In several matters, the outcome is recorded as simply resigned,
[10:34] Speaker 1: sometimes before a final disciplinary determination was made. When that happens,
[10:39] Speaker 1: the investigation may effectively be over, with the officer no
[10:45] Speaker 1: longer part of the police service. We know that happened
[10:48] Speaker 1: in the Reynolds case. The report also shows how a
[10:57] Speaker 1: single investigation can involve a large number of alleged breaches.
[11:02] Speaker 1: In one case, an officer was accused of 31 separate
[11:05] Speaker 1: counts of failing to act with care and diligence. Other
[11:09] Speaker 1: matters included multiple counts of excessive force, misconduct or breaches
[11:14] Speaker 1: of police procedures. Taken together, the Professional Standards Report offers
[11:19] Speaker 1: a rare window into how police misconduct complaints are handled internally.
[11:25] Speaker 1: For the public, documents like this provide one of the
[11:28] Speaker 1: few opportunities to see how complaints against police officers are
[11:32] Speaker 1: documented and resolved inside the system for policing the police.
[11:39] Speaker 1: One of the most serious matters recorded in a professional
[11:42] Speaker 1: standards report involved the allegations relating to child exploitation material.
[11:47] Speaker 1: Around the same time, a Tasmanian police officer, Dale Cook,
[11:51] Speaker 1: was charged in court with allegedly accessing child abuse material
[11:56] Speaker 1: and later resigned from the force.
[11:58] Speaker 6: Tasmania police will appoint specialist investigators to examine the conduct
[12:03] Speaker 6: of former police officer Dale Cook. On Sunday, the officer
[12:07] Speaker 6: was arrested and charged by the Tasmanian Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team.
[12:13] Speaker 6: He was charged with accessing child exploitation material and will
[12:17] Speaker 6: next appear in the Launceston Magistrates Court.
[12:22] Speaker 1: Earlier this year, we lodged a right to information request
[12:25] Speaker 1: with Tasmanian Police. The request focused on a very specific question.
[12:30] Speaker 1: Why had the death of Paul Reynolds been considered in
[12:34] Speaker 1: an inquest alongside the death of three other Tasmanian Police officers?
[12:40] Speaker 1: On the surface, these details appear to involve very different circumstances.
[12:45] Speaker 1: They were different investigations and different timelines.
[12:49] Speaker 7: The coronial inquest, which is also examining the deaths by
[12:52] Speaker 7: suicide of three other Tasmanian police officers, heard the current
[12:56] Speaker 7: critical incident stress management program isn't working and Tasmania Police
[13:01] Speaker 7: needs to get better at recognising PTSD earlier.
[13:09] Speaker 1: Yet somewhere inside Tasmanian Police, there had clearly been a
[13:13] Speaker 1: discussion about whether those deaths should be examined together. So
[13:18] Speaker 1: we asked to see the documents behind that decision. Our
[13:22] Speaker 1: requests sought internal memoranda, emails, briefing notes and reports discussing
[13:26] Speaker 1: whether Reynolds' death should be investigated jointly with the other three.
[13:32] Speaker 1: We asked for documents referring to what investigators sometimes call
[13:35] Speaker 1: a nexus, a connection between cases. That could include references
[13:40] Speaker 1: to occupation, timing, gender, welfare concerns or broader systemic issues
[13:46] Speaker 1: within the police organisation We also asked for any draft
[13:50] Speaker 1: recommendations supporting consolidation of those investigations. Because if a decision
[13:56] Speaker 1: had been made to consider these deaths together, there would
[14:00] Speaker 1: almost certainly have been internal discussions explaining why. But our
[14:04] Speaker 1: request went further than that. We also asked for documents
[14:07] Speaker 1: connected to what is known as a Section 50B, Directions
[14:11] Speaker 1: Under the Coroner's Act. And we were looking for any submissions,
[14:14] Speaker 1: legal advice or correspondence provided to the coroner about consolidating
[14:19] Speaker 1: the investigations. We asked for internal briefings prepared by professional standards,
[14:23] Speaker 1: border executive command, documents assessing reputational risk, systemic risk and
[14:30] Speaker 1: public interest considerations. Anything that showed how the police leadership
[14:34] Speaker 1: weighed the decision to potentially hold a joint inquest. Finally,
[14:40] Speaker 1: we asked for the correspondence between Tasmania Police and the
[14:44] Speaker 1: Office of the Coroner about the scope of the inquest.
[14:47] Speaker 1: In short, we're trying to understand one thing, how and
[14:51] Speaker 1: why those deaths were considered together. We've heard numerous times
[14:55] Speaker 1: from people on the podcast that it seems strange to them.
[14:59] Speaker 4: 100% it was weird. To me it's speculation, but to
[15:03] Speaker 4: me it was common to throw Reynolds into that mix,
[15:09] Speaker 4: so it didn't have its own spotlight to try and
[15:11] Speaker 4: diffuse the scrutiny on that particular case.
[15:16] Speaker 1: Eventually... A response arrived, dated March 4, 2026. The letter
[15:22] Speaker 1: came from the Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management,
[15:25] Speaker 1: the government department responsible for Tasmanian Police.
[15:29] Speaker 2: I'm writing in response to your application for assessed disclosure
[15:32] Speaker 2: under the Right to Information Act 2009, dated 23 February 2026.
[15:37] Speaker 2: Your request sought access to documents created between the 13
[15:41] Speaker 2: September 2018, date of Reynolds' death, The.
[15:53] Speaker 1: First line of the response confirmed something really important. Their
[15:57] Speaker 1: reporting and intelligence systems had located information relevant to the request.
[16:03] Speaker 1: In other words, the documents exist. But that's where the
[16:07] Speaker 1: disclosure stops. Because despite confirming the existence of those records,
[16:12] Speaker 1: the department says it can't release any of them.
[16:15] Speaker 2: Inquiries and searching of Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management, Reporting,
[16:21] Speaker 2: Information and Intelligence Systems has located information relevant to your application. Although,
[16:27] Speaker 2: as your inquiry involves information relating to a reportable death,
[16:30] Speaker 2: the matter falls under the jurisdiction of the Tasmanian Coroner,
[16:33] Speaker 2: pursuant to Section 6 of the Act.
[16:37] Speaker 1: The reason is that the material relates to what the
[16:40] Speaker 1: law calls a reportable death, a death that falls under
[16:44] Speaker 1: the jurisdiction... of the Tasmanian coroner. And once information forms
[16:49] Speaker 1: part of a coronial investigation, it's considered to be in
[16:52] Speaker 1: the possession of the coroner, not the police. Now, because
[16:57] Speaker 1: the coroner's court is legally classified as a court, it
[17:00] Speaker 1: sits outside the right to information process. So in practical terms,
[17:05] Speaker 1: that means even if Tasmanian police created the documents, even
[17:09] Speaker 1: if those documents still sit inside the police system, once
[17:12] Speaker 1: they form part of the coronial investigations, the department says
[17:16] Speaker 1: it's legally unable to release them. The letter then goes
[17:21] Speaker 1: on to say what we already knew, that the coroner's
[17:24] Speaker 1: court is excluded from the Right to Information Act. The
[17:28] Speaker 1: department was also unable to transfer the request there. Instead,
[17:33] Speaker 1: they suggested a different pathway. Now, under the Coroner's Act,
[17:38] Speaker 1: we could apply for what is known as an interested
[17:41] Speaker 1: person to directly ask the coroner to access certain information.
[17:48] Speaker 1: The coroner has the authority to release statements or affidavits
[17:52] Speaker 1: to someone they consider to have sufficient interest in the investigation. Now,
[17:57] Speaker 1: we're not really an interested person. That's generally given to
[18:01] Speaker 1: lawyers and family members. In other words, while the documents
[18:06] Speaker 1: can't be released through right to information, they may still
[18:09] Speaker 1: be accessible through a coronial system. As far as the
[18:13] Speaker 1: RTI request itself goes, the outcome is clear. After assessing
[18:17] Speaker 1: the application, under the legislation, the department says it's unable
[18:21] Speaker 1: to disclose any information relevant to our request. Not the emails,
[18:26] Speaker 1: not the briefings, not the recommendations. On the surface, the
[18:33] Speaker 1: response from the department might sound like a bit of
[18:36] Speaker 1: a dead end. The documents exist, but they can't be
[18:39] Speaker 1: released because they're inside the coronial process. But there are
[18:43] Speaker 1: three things it does confirm. It confirms the discussions we're
[18:47] Speaker 1: looking for did in fact take place. Internal documents exist.
[18:52] Speaker 1: Briefings exist. Somewhere inside the Tasmanian police, people examine whether
[18:57] Speaker 1: the death of Reynolds should be considered alongside the death
[19:00] Speaker 1: of other officers. That decision wasn't accidental. It was discussed.
[19:06] Speaker 1: It was analysed. And at some point, it was documented.
[19:10] Speaker 1: Which brings me to the second point. The reason the
[19:13] Speaker 1: department gives for refusing access is the material forms part
[19:17] Speaker 1: of a reportable death investigation. In other words, documents we
[19:21] Speaker 1: ask for might still become public, just through a different
[19:25] Speaker 1: legal process. But until that happens, we're left with a
[19:28] Speaker 1: partial picture. We know discussions occurred. We know documents were created.
[19:33] Speaker 1: And we know those documents relate to the questions of
[19:36] Speaker 1: whether multiple police deaths should be examined together. What we
[19:40] Speaker 1: don't know yet is what those discussions concluded. And so
[19:43] Speaker 1: we go back to our central question that prompted this
[19:47] Speaker 1: request in the first place. And it's still hanging in
[19:50] Speaker 1: the air. Why were all these deaths considered together at all?
[19:55] Speaker 1: Because decisions like that don't happen without reason. Somewhere inside
[20:00] Speaker 1: those withheld documents, the reasoning almost certainly exists.

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