An independent audit has delivered a damning assessment of the Queensland Police Service, finding that the organisation misused taxpayer funds and had been living beyond its means. The Queensland Police Commissioner outlined the findings after the bombshell review of the service's finances, and the most serious matters have now been referred to the state's corruption watchdog.
According to the review, the service used funding for purposes other than those for which it was intended and lacked financial discipline across the organisation. The audit found that the QPS had effectively defied the government, leaving behind a budget black hole that had been building up through a series of decisions about how money was spent.
The audit identified a range of systemic issues that, the Commissioner said, would have led to an estimated 400 million dollar deficit by the end of this financial year if they had been left unchecked. The scale of the shortfall underlined how far the service's spending had drifted from the funding it had actually been allocated.
One of the central problems was where the money went. Funding that was meant for frontline police was instead used to expand the unsworn workforce, with around 600 civilian staff hired without funding to support those positions. On top of that, overtime payments had surged, adding further pressure to the service's stretched finances.
The Commissioner said the matters raised in the review had the potential to impact public confidence and trust in the service's administration practices, and that for this reason aspects of the review had been referred to the Crime and Corruption Commission. He declined to name those responsible, however, saying it would be imprudent to discuss that while the process continued.
The report makes 21 recommendations in total, including a freeze on new unsworn positions to stop the civilian workforce from growing further. The government, for its part, ruled out redundancies, stating that anyone currently in a job would not lose it, but that vacant roles would be examined to see whether they could be rebalanced.
There was also caution about how the books should be repaired, with the point made that cutting back on overtime or support staff would not make Queenslanders safer. The QPS has already established a dedicated task force to work through the findings, and officials said the challenge now is to rebalance the budget appropriately without affecting the front line.