The NSW government has declined to set a timeframe for implementing the 19 public recommendations from the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes, saying it wants to ensure they are implemented properly.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday alongside the NSW police commissioner and the president of HIV and LGBTQ+ health organisation ACON, Police Minister Yasmin Catley said that work on some of the recommendations was already under way but could not provide a timeline for when all would be implemented.
"I don't think we should put a timeframe on it, because we want to do it right," Catley said after the NSW government announcement that it would implement all of the inquiry's recommendations
At the same press conference, Catley told reporters she wanted to be accountable for the implementation of the recommendations and would explore mechanisms to provide regular updates.
"We will not be hiding from anything here, we want to be upfront and make sure we do exactly what was asked from us in those recommendations," she said.
Gay Sydney News previously reported on the state government's delay in responding to the inquiry, citing unanswered emails and lengthy gaps of several months between public updates.
"I give you my guarantee that we want you [journalists] to call us to account because I want to ensure that we deliver on every single one of those recommendations," Catley said.
"My commitment as the police minister is to make sure the NSW Police do better because the LGBTQI+ community deserve that."
Justin Koonin, president of ACON, said that the community had already waited 40 years for issues to be addressed but he understood implementing some of the recommendations would take time.
"It's around cultural change, it's around unconscious bias," he said. "I think it would be unwise to set a fixed time on how long that takes."
Some of the work has already been done. Out of the 19 public recommendations, four have been implemented, including an update to the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the deaths examined in the inquiry, and for the police force to continue monitoring DNA databases to identify an unknown male connected to one of the deaths.
Two of the other completed recommendations were for the police to establish a taskforce to oversee the implementation of the inquiry and to make an application for a fresh inquest should any new reviews contradict previous Coroner’s findings.
Some of the recommendations called for fresh inquests into the deaths of the four men identified by the inquiry. Those deaths include newsreader Ross Warren, former AC/DC manager Crispin Dye, US mathematician Scott Johnson, Gilles Mattaini and retiree William Allen.
"We will let Taskforce Atlas do it's work in that and let's let those investigations happen," said Catley, referring to the taskforce set up by the police.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she was confident in the police's ability to investigate these cases again given some success the police have had in prior cold cases.
"Many crimes are investigated that are many years old and we have still resolved them," she said.
"What is really optimistic for us is the changes in forensic technology and we don't know yet what is around the corner that could assist us."
Led by Justice John Sackar and launched in April 2022, the hate crimes inquiry examined unsolved deaths of LGBTIQ+ people between 1970 and 2010 that may have been hate crimes and were previously investigated by NSW Police.
Eliot Hastie is a senior news producer at Channel Ten, reporting on a range of general stories, specialising in foreign affairs and LGBTQ+ stories. He’s also a reporter for Gay Sydney News, where he covers LGBTQIA+ culture, politics and nightlife. He previously helped to build and launch ausbiz, Australia's only live streaming finance news channel, where he was also an executive producer and host. He has previously worked as a finance and business journalist for publications including Fintech Business, Real Estate Business and other Momentum Media titles. Eliot holds a journalism degree from the University of Westminster and brings experience in both broadcast and digital reporting. Contact Eliot: [email protected]
