Audio of Brisbane police joking about beating and burying First Nations people and people of African descent was leaked by a whistleblower on Sunday amid the Queensland inquiry into police responses to domestic and family violence.
Officers in Brisbane’s city watch house were recorded in 2019 and 2020 making vile racist and sexist comments, using slurs and suggesting Australia “will be fucking taken over” by non-white people.
The audio includes discussions of fears of “outbreeding” by Muslim and African immigrants and saying “where’s the mafia when you need them?” and “let’s just hope Ebola works”.
One officer also referred to Nigerian people as “j*gaboos” and another discussed wanting to “bury” First Nations people because “no one would know”.
“They wait outside fucking supermarkets and they’ll follow ya and they’ll fucking try and rob ya and I’m thinking … just get ’em and beat the fuck out of them and bury them. Just bury them. Mate, no one would know,” one watch house officer was recorded saying.
The recordings were submitted to the inquiry by another watch house officer Steven Marshall. In his four years on the job, he said this was just a snippet of the disgusting language he’s heard.
He said he’d made several internal complaints over the years but thought they weren’t taken seriously and that he’d also been told off for speaking up, so his last option was to leak them publicly.
It was also revealed on Monday that Marshall sent the audio recordings to Queensland police minister Mark Ryan last month, but Ryan declined to meet with him.
Marshall emailed Ryan’s office to ask for a meeting because he alleged he had been subjected to “significant” reprisals for reporting the officer misconduct internally. He said he was suicidal and needed to escalate the matter.
“Reprisal action was swift and has been ongoing for me. I learnt that I could not rely on my organisation or others to protect me,” the email read.
“Politics took precedence over human rights and criminal behaviour. Subsequently, actions were taken to preserve evidence, some of which, predominantly the less damaging stuff, has come out in the Royal Commission.
“The reprisals for reporting corruption have been detrimental to my career, health and future job prospects. Unfortunately, it looks like I’m being cornered into litigation or whistleblowing.”
Ryan’s office referred the matter to Queensland police.
Marshall said it was “reckless” for the minister to send the matter back to the service after his email detailed clear concerns about their response.
Queensland police said in a statement to Guardian Australia, which published the leaked audio, the service valued “culture and diversity”.
“Adverse language used towards the First Nations community is completely unacceptable,” the statement read.
“The QPS recognises the current commission of inquiry into domestic and family violence as an opportunity to learn from matters raised while strengthening and improving the organisation.”
The final report of the inquiry is due to be handed down on Monday.
The full audio recordings and their transcripts can be accessed here.
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