Tasmanian Labor acknowledges the immense bravery of victim-survivors and witnesses, and the work of Ms Regina Weiss in completing the review into Paul Reynolds.
While nothing can atone for the appalling crimes committed by Mr Reynolds, the review’s important work is a vital step in bringing a level of closure for those affected, and for preventing similar occurrences from happening in the future.
Among the review’s damning findings was a spotlight on the urgent need to strengthen the powers of Tasmania’s Integrity Commission.
Recommendation five clearly sets out the expectation that legislative changes must be made to improve the ability of the Integrity Commission to do its job.
In the Review, Ms Weiss says, “the legislative investigative powers of the Tasmanian Integrity Commission applicable to serious misconduct of police officers falls short in comparison to other Australian agency jurisdictions and are not fit for purpose.”
In relation to the heinous crimes of Paul Reynolds that were never properly investigated or publicly exposed until the Coroner’s Report, Ms Weiss goes on to say that, “With the benefit of hindsight, if an integrity commission with investigative powers independent of police and akin to those available to the LECC, ICAC, WACCC, IBAC or the CCC had investigated allegations of Reynolds’ grooming or criminal conduct with teenage boys, perhaps his actions would have been detected sooner.”
The Government has had since 2016 to implement the recommendations from the Cox review to strengthen the Integrity Commission but they have failed to prioritise them.
It’s time for the Liberal-Lambie Coalition to be transparent with the Tasmanian community about who has been appointed to undertake the review of the Integrity Commission that was promised when they signed their coalition agreement. They should also come clean with Tasmanians about what the terms of reference for the review are.
Rebecca White MP
Shadow Minister for Integrity
Jen Butler MP
Shadow Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management
