Inquiry hears of CCC probe

DEPUTY Commissioner Paul Taylor was subject to a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation relating to financial matters, the Queensland DV inquiry has heard.

Mr Taylor resigned from the service after it emerged he’d referred to a gynaecologist friend as a “vagina whisperer” at a leadership conference in April 2022.

Giving further evidence to the Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Responses to Domestic Violence on Thursday, police Commissioner Katarina Carroll was asked why she disciplined Mr Taylor only with local managerial guidance – which involves a conversation with a more senior officer.

Ms Carroll on Wednesday she said it was because she expected he would suffer more serious consequences relating to a separate complaint.

She said she expected the second complaint would be resolved very quickly but it still hadn’t by the time she gave vidence at the inquiry in August.

Coming back to the issue on Thursday, Counsel assisting the inquiry, Ruth O’Gorman KC asked the Commissioner that in hindsight would it have been better to deal with the managerial guidance differently and allowed Mr Taylor to apologise to which Ms Carroll agreed.

The inquiry was told the Crime and Corruption Commission had investigated a matter relating to Mr Taylor.

It had found three breaches of discipline for financial matters, Ms O’Gorman told the inquiry.

She said none of the conduct amounted to corrupt conduct and the matter was not related to sexism or misogyny.

The CCC found his conduct didn’t relate to disciplinary action for dismissal, Ms O’Gorman said.

Mr Taylor resigned on August 20, the day after the “vagina whisperer” comment was made public.

Ms Carroll said she said she believed the outcome of the other complaint would be “much more serious”.

Ms Carroll agreed that the second complaint could have resulted in Mr Taylor being dismissed from the service.

She said she spoke to Mr Taylor on the day of the inquiry hearing in August where information about his conference comments emerged.

“Straight after the hearing we had a quick conversation in my office,” Ms Carroll said of the meeting.

“I said to him, ‘Paul this is damaging to you and for the organisation’.

“And he said, ‘I should resign’.

“And I said, ‘I completely agree with you’.”

Ms Carroll said she would have asked him to resign if he hadn’t offered his resignation.

Asked about other matters, Ms Carroll said she was mistreated on multiple occasions in the 1980s and 1990s and that she had made complaints about some of the incidents, but not all.

The inquiry also heard of incidents of bullying and racial vilification of police liaison officers, and an explosive dossier in which female officers spoke of being called a “sl*t” and “lesbian”, and subjected to “t*t” inspections.