The time taken to respond to a Ballina domestic violence (DV) incident has been defended by the Counsel to the Commissioner of NSW Police.
Police oversight body, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), is investigating police conduct around the death of Lindy Lucena, who died on 3 January, 2023, after being assaulted by her partner, Robert Huber.
Huber was sentenced to 12 years in prison on 7 July, 2025.
The inquiry is focusing on ‘whether the conduct of the police officers involved in the response to the assault and subsequent death of Ms Lucena amounted to serious misconduct or serious maladministration.’
Police allegedly took nearly an hour to respond to the 000 call, just moments away from the station.
While the public hearings – under Operation Almas – were held in late 2025, the Commissioner’s response was just published on 23 February, 2026.
It is available here: https://tinyurl.com/yuy9cyd8.
The Police Commissioner’s response, by Counsel Tim Smart, referred to Greens MLC Sue Higginson’s accusations that police delayed their response, saying instead that her version of events was misleading.
Smartt said that, ‘There is no public interest in the community being misled about the conduct of police, nor is it right that members of the NSW Police Force who did their best under trying circumstances face the additional hardship of being publicly maligned for their conduct’.
Smartt then went on to be critical of the LECC itself, saying, ‘In drafting its report, the Commission should be more careful in phrasing certain matters than would ordinarily be appropriate, in order to avoid giving the impression that it has a role in investigating the question of whether the NSW Police Force, had it acted differently, would or could have saved the life of Ms Lucena’.
Proposed LECC recommendations put forward have also been rejected by Smartt.
They include the ‘shared offsider’ dispatch-assist model, and ‘resourcing at the Newcastle Radio Operations Centre’. The recommendation for specific training for officers in critical incidents was also rejected.
‘The cost of implementing the recommendations outweighs any benefit,’ he said.
Counsel Smartt’s past legal cases
Greens MLC Sue Higginson said in a statement Smartt ‘has acted for’ neo-Nazi Jacob Hersant, ‘who was jailed for performing a Nazi salute, as well as for American influencer, Candace Owens, in High Court proceedings where she was barred from entering Australia for Holocaust denial’.
While Owens has not explicitly stated that the Holocaust did not happen, she was refused entry to Australia not only because she downplays the Holocaust and questions the validity of specific atrocities, but because of her broader pattern of speech – including Holocaust‑related comments – which was judged to fail Australia’s ‘character test’ under the Migration Act.
Higginson said, ‘I’m frankly appalled that the NSW Police have rejected the LECC’s planned critical recommendations to protect victims of domestic violence after the fatal bashing of Ballina local Lindy Lucena at the hands of her violent partner’.
‘The NSW Police submission criticises the LECC for investigating at all, and claims Lindy died 35 minutes before police arrived, failing to mention that police took 55 minutes to arrive at the scene.
‘Cold reckless indifference’
‘I was surprised by the cold reckless indifference to the subject matter of the police submissions and the obstruction of the LECC’s recommendations. The submissions failed to acknowledge Lindy’s grieving family who raised questions about the police response, the independence of the LECC and rather sought to politicise the LECC’s decision to establish Operation Almas,’ said Higginson.
Despite Higginson’s criticism, the opening paragraph of the Commissioner’s submission reads, ‘The Commissioner recognises that the families and friends of Ms Lucena will be forever affected by her death, and offers his sincere and respectful condolences’.
Higginson went on, ‘The submission motivated me to look at who the police had engaged to represent them. Their barrister, Timothy Smartt, is the man who unsuccessfully defended a man in Victoria jailed for performing a Nazi salute, and who likened Nazi salutes to hailing a taxi. Mr Smartt chose to defend Candace Owens, an American barred from entry to Australia by the High Court owing to Holocaust denial and he defended Pauline Hanson in court after her racist attack on Senator Mehreen Faruqi.
‘Legal representation is important, even the most offensive criminals are entitled to legal representation and for barristers the cab rank rule applies, but I question why and how the NSW Police chose to engage such a barrister..’ who ‘defended’ neo-Nazis, ‘… Holocaust deniers and public figures who engage in racism in order to defend their approach to victims of domestic violence, particularly at the taxpayers’ expense.
‘I hope Commissioner Mal Lanyon and Police Minister Yasmin Catley will intervene and ensure the NSW Police accept the LECC’s recommendations to keep women who are victims of domestic violence safe and to improve how police respond to emergency call outs,’ Higginson added.
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