Media release - Responses to LECC Operation Kurumba Supplementary Report

Monday, 13 September 2023

The NSW Police Force has updated its procedures and put disclosure requirements in place for police officers owning racing animals, as promised in its official response provided to the Commission’s Operation Kurumba Supplementary Report.

The NSW Police Force has provided a response, agreeing in-principle with the Commission’s Supplementary Report recommendations.

The Police Commissioner and the NSW Police Force’s Commissioner’s Executive Team determined that police officers needed to declare and manage any financial interests and ownership of racing animals as a conflict of interest.

The NSW Police Force has also said that all police officer’s secondary employment and financial interests are to be considered in a conflict of interest form regardless of whether that employment or those interests are in high-risk industries or not.

The NSW Police Force has provided the Commission with its new Procedures for Managing Conflicts of Interest, which show that these changes have been made.

The Commission’s Supplementary Report to its Operation Kurumba investigation emphasised that conflicts of interest extend to perceived or potential conflicts of interest and not only actual conflicts of interest.

The Supplementary Report also emphasised that the NSW Police Force needed to revise and harmonise their conflict of interest and secondary employment policies after Commission analysis showed significant inconsistencies.

The Supplementary Report arose from an earlier Commission investigation into former Police Commissioner Mick Fuller’s ownership of racehorses.

A table setting out the NSW Police Force’s response to the Commission’s Operation Kurumba Supplementary Report can be downloaded here and the Commission’s Operation Kurumba Supplementary report may be found here.