An independent review into NSW Police Force culture has found systemic sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination against female officers, prompting calls for the Minns Labor government to immediately expand the powers of the state’s police watchdog.The review is called Final report of the Independent Cultural Review into NSW Police Force.
It found bullying, favouritism and discrimination operating across multiple levels of the organisation, with a complaints system so widely distrusted that most officers expected nothing to happen if they reported misconduct. It also found diversity representation had stagnated or declined over five years, and that no women currently sit on the Commissioner’s Executive Team.
Greens MP and justice spokesperson Sue Higginson said the findings confirmed what she had been hearing since entering parliament.
“The independent review has proven the toxic, misogynist and unsafe culture within New South Wales Police is not confined to a few bad apples,” Ms Higginson said. “We need to be real about what this report has found — we are talking about a system that is rotten at its core that threatens the integrity of our system of law enforcement.
“Every single woman interviewed in the police force disclosed harassment and abuse without exception. This must be a wake-up call for the Minns Labor Government.”
Ms Higginson said the abuse documented went beyond workplace misconduct. “Women are blackmailed into sex, subject to racial slurs and choked in the name of ‘teaching them the ropes’. This is how police treat their own, and we have recently had a glimpse of how they treat the people of New South Wales in the recent 4 Corners.”
The Greens MP said she had attempted to initiate a parliamentary inquiry into NSW policing in 2023 but claimed it was blocked at the highest level. “I tried very hard in 2023 to get an inquiry up into policing in NSW, and at that time the Police Minister seemed to be on board. I understand it was Premier Chris Minns who prevented any inquiry at that time.”
She is calling on Police Minister Yasmin Catley and the Premier to act on the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, which the report itself identifies as a potential avenue for greater independent oversight of how harmful workplace behaviour complaints are handled.
“I am once again calling on the Minister for Police Yasmin Catley to offer more than concern, and Premier Chris Minns to provide the independent police watchdog, the LECC, with more resources and immediately legislate powers the LECC has been calling for to investigate police misconduct,” Ms Higginson said.
“The police’s own Professional Standards Command have overseen this system of violence, bullying and sexual harassment because for too long, the Government have enabled a system of police investigating police. This system is enabling severe harm and immediate legislative intervention is a must.”
The review makes 29 recommendations, including that the LECC be asked to conduct more regular reviews of how harmful workplace behaviour complaints are managed. It also calls for an independent external advisory committee to oversee implementation, with a public audit within two years.
Commissioner Mal Lanyon has committed to implementing all 29 recommendations. The NSW Government has not yet responded publicly to calls for LECC reform.
The 29 recommendations of the Independent Cultural Review into NSW Police Force
Trusted leadership
- Broaden the Commissioner’s Executive Team to include civilian specialists, create rotational positions for assistant commissioners or executive directors, establish transparent appointment criteria, and build a more diverse senior leadership pipeline including women, First Nations staff and CALD employees.
- Set timebound targets for engagement, retention, diversity and respectful workplace behaviours, with CET members held accountable through their performance plans.
- Integrate cultural KPIs into leadership evaluations — weighted alongside operational outcomes — with public reporting in the annual report and 360-degree feedback starting at the CET level.
- Establish an independent external advisory committee to guide implementation, commission a public independent audit within two years, and develop a clear implementation plan with timelines and responsibilities.
Attraction, recruitment and the Academy
- Develop a comprehensive recruitment strategy with annual workforce-modelled targets, measurable diversity goals aligned with NSW Government inclusion policy, and published outcomes against those targets.
- Streamline recruitment by introducing an expression-of-interest function, recalibrating entry testing, clarifying mental health eligibility requirements, and improving transparency around training costs.
- Introduce HELP debt relief for probationary constables who complete their first year of service, and review financial incentives to support retention in high-need regional postings.
- Integrate wellbeing, mental health readiness and cultural inclusion throughout Academy and probation training, expand operational placements, and formally evaluate the impact within two years.
Talent development and career progression
- Publish participation data on leadership development by rank, region, diversity and employment type; establish clear expectations for leadership skills at each level; and protect shift time for mandatory training.
- Systematically analyse exit drivers and integrate findings into command-level reporting; seek Treasury support to model targeted retention incentives.
- Appoint independent external members to promotion panels for superintendent level and above (at least one-third of membership); require conflict-of-interest declarations; publish a quarterly promotions dashboard broken down by gender, First Nations status, CALD background, disability and region.
- Require HR duty officers to have specific HR training, and ensure HR professionals oversee conflict-of-interest processes and data reporting.
- Remove the Technical and Operational Knowledge Assessment from promotions; replace it with consistent evaluation of leadership capability, behavioural indicators and operational readiness; ensure written applications carry equal weight with interviews.
- Require promotion panels to provide specific documented feedback to each candidate; strengthen feedback for officers in relieving roles; introduce formal onboarding for newly promoted officers including structured handovers and people management training.
- Establish HR-managed regional registers for transparent allocation of relieving opportunities; require commanders to document and justify allocations; collect and publish annual promotion data by gender, cultural background and region; increase visibility of senior female and culturally diverse role models.
Flexibility in a modern organisation
- Materially expand access to flexible work; position flexibility as an operational asset rather than a constraint; hold regional commanders accountable for approvals; provide HR training for all staff in HR roles; pilot split shifts and micro-flexibility in frontline environments; monitor employee experience quarterly at CET level.
Addressing harmful behaviours
- Develop and implement a comprehensive two-year prevention strategy against bullying, discrimination, harassment and victimisation, with measurable objectives and accountability for outcomes.
- Identify a broader range of harmful behaviours as psychosocial hazards in existing risk management frameworks, including discrimination and victimisation.
- Embed KPIs for respectful workplace behaviours into senior leader performance evaluations and promotion processes, using People Matter Employee Survey data and complaint timeliness indicators.
- Improve awareness of reporting pathways outside the chain of command; positively promote alternative resolution options; publish regular de-identified data on complaint numbers, types, timeliness and outcomes.
- Increase Professional Standards Command audits of harmful behaviour matters; consider asking the LECC to conduct more regular reviews of how Tier 1, 2 and 3 respectful workplace behaviour complaints are managed.
- Update guidelines to define what trauma-informed and victim-centred complaint handling means in practice; enhance training for complaint handlers; broaden access to expert advice from Professional Standards Command, the Respectful Workplace and Safe Reporting Unit, and the Internal Witness Support Unit.
Support and care
- Establish an in-house Critical Incident Support unit staffed by qualified psychologists; increase the number of mental health clinicians in commands; pilot expanded WellChecks for priority staff including Police Link and radio operators; significantly increase in-house police psychologists.
- Embed mandatory mental health and psychosocial hazard training across all leadership programs; expand Project Mentis; increase visible senior representation among peer support officers; embed mental health education across the full employee lifecycle.
- Introduce structured induction highlighting the work of Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers and Multicultural Community Liaison Officers; establish formal consultation mechanisms with ACLO, MCLO and unsworn networks.
Modern systems and enabling environment
- Urgently implement a single statewide workforce management system integrating rostering, leave, training, fatigue and wellbeing data; embed demand-based rostering rules; provide predictable rosters with varied shift-length options.
- Build a real-time cultural and workforce intelligence dashboard consolidating attrition, absenteeism, probation progress, training completion and wellbeing metrics; link it to leadership performance frameworks and organisational reporting.
- Replace legacy systems including COPS, CAD and court documentation with modular, interoperable technology; deliver immediate frontline improvements such as digital sign-in, GPS-enabled dispatch and automated body-worn video upload; embed frontline input into system design; establish transparent public governance for technology investment.
- Recognise external qualifications and cross-sector experience from other public service, first responder and regulatory agencies as valid pathways into leadership and specialist roles; embed competency-based promotion and appointment criteria.
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