Chadwick v Acting Deputy Commissioner DA Wright

[2020] QCAT 66

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

CITATION:

Bret Chadwick v Acting Deputy Commissioner DA Wright [2020] QCAT 66

PARTIES:

BRET CHADWICK   
(applicant)

v

ACTING DEPUTY COMMISSIONER DA WRIGHT  

(respondent)

APPLICATION NO/S:

OCR314-18

MATTER TYPE:

Occupational regulation matters

DELIVERED ON:

6 March 2020

HEARING DATE:

28 October 2019

HEARD AT:

Brisbane  

DECISION OF:

Member Traves

ORDERS:

THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS THAT:

1.   The decision of the Acting Deputy Commissioner of 13 November 2018 that Bret Chadwick be dismissed is confirmed.

2.    No order as to costs.

CATCHWORDS:

POLICE – INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION – DISCIPLINE AND DISMISSAL FOR MISCONDUCT – QUEENSLAND -  where review of sanction – where applicant deleted body camera footage of an arrest made by his junior partner – where applicant made material false statements about the circumstances of the arrest in an interview with Crime and Corruption Commission investigators -  where those material false statements repeated in a formal statement – where applicant threw passports belonging to two international backpackers on the ground where the backpackers had been urinating – where applicant initially untruthful about the circumstances of the incident with the two backpackers.

Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (Qld), s 219BA, s 219C, s 219G, s 219H, s 219I, Schedule 2
Police Service Administration Act 1990 (Qld), s 1.4, s 7.4.
Police Service Discipline Regulations 1990 (Qld), reg 3, reg 5, reg 10, reg 12
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld), s 20 s 24

Aldrich v Ross [2001] 2 QdR 235
Crime and Misconduct Commission v McLennan & Ors [2008] QSC 23
Crime and Misconduct Commission v Assistant Commissioner Paul Taylor & Shepherd [2018] QCAT 80
DA v Deputy Commissioner Stewart (No 2) [2013] QCATA 162
Deputy Commissioner Stewart v Dark [2012] QCA 228
Francis v Crime and Corruption Commission [2015] QCA 218
Kennedy v Deputy Commissioner Stewart [2012] QCAT 66
Police Service Board v Morris (1985) 156 CLR 397
Re Bowen [1996] 2 QdR 8

REPRESENTATION & APPEARANCES:

Applicant:

Liza Marshall, counsel instructed by Gilshenan and Luton Legal Practice

Respondent:

Scott McLeod QC instructed by QPS Legal Unit

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. The applicant, Bret Chadwick, has applied for review under s 219G of the Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (Qld) (CCA) of a decision dated 13 November 2018 by Acting Deputy Commissioner DA Wright, that he be dismissed from the Queensland Police Service effective immediately.

The statutory context

1. Section 219C of the CCA provides that QCAT has jurisdiction to conduct disciplinary proceedings. ‘Disciplinary proceeding’ includes a proceeding under s 219G for a reviewable decision.[1] Under s 219G (as it applied to this reviewable decision), Mr Chadwick had 28 days from the day on which notice of the decision was given to apply for review.[2] Mr Chadwick made his application within time.

   [1]CCA, s 219B.

   [2]Under s 444 of the CCA, s 219G(2) as in force before the commencement of the current CCA, continues to apply to a reviewable decision made before the commencement (being the date of assent on 30 October 2019).

2. A reviewable decision includes…