Please support this petition calling on the NSW Police and Emergency Services Minister David Elliott to show his support for NSW Ambulance paramedics by immediately calling for an open and transparent investigation into the conduct of Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon in Goulburn on 24 February 2021, and the truthfulness of Commissioner Mick Fuller's subsequent statements made to both himself and the NSW Parliament in relation to this matter.

The shocking revelations made on the popular Friendlyjordies YouTube channel, NSW Police: Utterly Compromised, which has had 377,000 views in less than a week, raises serious issues relating to the conduct of NSW most senior police, which must be investigated openly and transparently.  

On 12 March 2021 NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller gave sworn evidence before a NSW Parliament budget estimates hearing relating to the incident concerning Deputy Commissioner Lanyon in Goulburn which was first  reported in the Daily Telegraph on 7 March 2021. 

The key points of  Commissioner Fuller's evidence  can be accurately summarised as follows:

• Deputy Commissioner Lanyon had a medical episode which was not attributed to alcohol. 
• Both Deputy Commissioner Lanyon, and NSW Ambulance Commissioner, Dr. Dominic Morgan, had informed Commissioner Fuller that there wasn't any conduct unbecoming of a senior police officer that he needed to act upon.
• Commissioner Fuller was satisfied that there was no conduct on the part of Deputy Commissioner Lanyon that would cause him to enact Part 8A of the Police Act (no misconduct whatsoever by Deputy Commissioner Lanyon).
• Commissioner Fuller advised Minister Elliott that Deputy Commissioner Lanyon had merely had a medical episode, and that he was okay. Minister Elliott's response was 'no problem”, and that was the end of it. 
• The matter was overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).  

However, documents subsequently released to Parliament paint an entirely different picture to that of Commissioner Fuller's evidence, and what he had informed Minister Elliott of in relation to Deputy Commissioner Lanyon's conduct, specifically the statements made by the paramedics which details Deputy Commissioner Lanyon's shocking and appalling abuse towards them.

Also released to Parliament were the file notes and email correspondence from the NSW Ambulance Commissioner to the paramedics which highlights his level of involvement and knowledge of this incident. Why then would the head of NSW Ambulance tell Commissioner Fuller, as was his evidence to Parliament, that there wasn't any conduct unbecoming of a senior police officer that he needed to action on? As the head of NSW Ambulance, this would be entirely disingenuous to the welfare and safety of his paramedics to not inform Commissioner Fuller. 

Moving now to Commissioner Fuller's evidence that Deputy Commissioner Lanyon had informed him that there wasn't any conduct unbecoming of a senior police officer that he needed to act upon. Deputy Commissioner Lanyon has misled Commissioner Fuller in relation to a serious misconduct issue relating to himself. If he had informed Commissioner Fuller, then Commissioner Fuller has misled both Minster Elliot and Parliament in relation to a serious misconduct issue involving one of his most senior police officers. 

Commissioner Fuller also gave evidence that this incident had been overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), so as to give the appearance of credibility and weight to his evidence that there wasn't any conduct unbecoming of a senior police officer that he needed to act upon. The extent of that LECC oversight however can be found in correspondence from the LECC Chief Commissioner to Commissioner Fuller on 9 March 2021 in which the LECC Chief Commissioner states that his knowledge of that matter is what he has read in the Daily Telegraph, and as no complaint has been received by the LECC, there was no intention to investigate it. This is not oversight, and it highlights a significant failure of the LECC to oversee matters of misconduct involving senior police. 

The NSW Government has rightly adopted a hard-line stance towards violence and abuse perpetrated towards emergency services workers. Only last year, the NSW attorney-general Mark Speakman asked the state's advisory body on criminal sentencing to review punishments for police and emergency worker assaults, saying there were “few more disgraceful acts than deliberate violence committed against our NSW Police Force officers, correctional and youth justice officers, emergency services workers and health workers as they bravely serve our community".

Minister for Health Brad Hazard also stood alongside the head of NSW Ambulance to announce strategies to encourage the reporting of occupational violence perpetuated against paramedics. Minister Hazard said that he “could not conceive that people would think it's okay not to treat paramedics with utter respect”.

Actions speak louder than words. The Government's rhetoric is meaningless if they do not support an open and transparent investigation into the conduct of Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon in Goulburn on 24 February 2021, and the truthfulness of Commissioner Mick Fuller's evidence to Parliament in relation to this incident.