Officer JXR v Deputy Commissioner Gollschewski

This appeal concerned a disciplinary matter involving an officer of the Queensland Police Service. The officer, referred to as JXR, appealed against the decision of the Tribunal, which had found certain disciplinary charges to be substantiated and had imposed a sanction. The Appeal Tribunal was required to determine whether there was an error of law in the Tribunal’s decision. Specifically, the issues were whether the Tribunal erred in its exercise of discretion, in imposing a global sanction, and in its treatment of the reasons for the original decision-maker’s decision.

The Appeal Tribunal found that while the Tribunal had correctly identified the misconduct, there was an error in the substantiation of one of the charges. The Tribunal had failed to adequately consider the mitigating factors that were relevant to the substantiation of the charge. The Appeal Tribunal set aside the Tribunal’s decision on the substantiation of the disciplinary charge in respect of one particular charge, finding it was not substantiated. The decision of the Tribunal in respect of the sanction was confirmed. The Appeal Tribunal also directed the Tribunal to correct its orders to reflect that it did not find certain matters to be substantiated and waived all procedural requirements for the making of the correction.

The final orders of the Appeal Tribunal were that the Tribunal’s decision on the substantiation of the disciplinary charge in respect of one particular charge was set aside, and a new decision was substituted, finding it was not substantiated. The decision on substantiation of the disciplinary charge was otherwise confirmed. The decision of the Tribunal in respect of the sanction was confirmed. The Appeal Tribunal also prohibited the publication of the material before the appeal tribunal and the reasons for decision of the appeal tribunal, except in a de-identified format.