Corruption watchdog probes police funding fiasco

Robyn Wuth | June 4, 2026

Police bosses will be marched before the corruption watchdog after an explosive review found cash meant for frontline cops was siphoned off elsewhere, blowing a $400 million hole in the force’s budget.

The Queensland Police Service Independent Financial Review, tabled in state parliament on Thursday, exposed a decade of financial mismanagement, the Liberal National government said.

Queensland Police will be investigated by the corruption watchdog after the review revealed it was headed for a structural deficit of about $400 million by the end of the financial year.

The blowout was driven by overspending, weak financial controls and hundreds of unfunded, permanent unsworn staff positions, the review said.

Police Minister Dan Purdie on Thursday said it showed funds intended to bolster frontline officers were instead spread across the organisation under the previous Labor government.

“The independent financial review has exposed a decade of financial mismanagement and governance failures within the Queensland Police Service,” he told parliament.

The minister said a number of matters uncovered during the process had already been referred by police to the Crime and Corruption Commission, although neither he nor the commissioner would detail which individuals or entities were involved.

Mr Purdie said the problems were not new and warning signs had been ignored.

They included a 2022 Queensland Treasury Corporation phase-one financial sustainability review that warned Queensland Police operating deficit could reach $315 million by 2031 if no intervention was made.

That report was never publicly released.

Mr Purdie called on the opposition leader to release the 2022 review and the former government’s response in full, saying Queenslanders deserved to know what Treasury had told Labor about the looming budget black hole inside the police service.

Opposition Leader Steven Miles said much of the report read like a “recipe or a plan to make cuts to our police service”. 

“If you cut back on overtime, if you cut back on support staff, well, that won’t make Queenslanders safer.”

The current LNP government ordered the independent financial review in January in a bid to stabilise Queensland Police finances and refocus the organisation on frontline policing.

Police Commissioner Brett Pointing said the findings were “sobering” and conceded the organisation had been “living beyond its means”.

The review identified a lack of financial discipline across the organisation that resulted in a number of adverse outcomes, he said.

They include an estimated 600 unfunded permanent unsworn positions, a recorded $130 million deficit in 2024/25 and the reclassification of more than 1000 sworn and 1000 unsworn positions without a funding source.

The review made 21 recommendations aimed at tightening financial management, governance and procurement.

Mr Pointing said QPS had already begun work to overhaul its corporate governance, establish a budget and governance review committee and strengthen procurement oversight.

Mr Purdie ruled out job cuts and changes to operational shift allowances, rejecting a proposal to end temporary contracts that would have led to losses among unsworn staff.

Mr Pointing said savings would instead be found largely through better procurement and “rebalancing” roles as they become vacant, with some positions redirected to the front line.