22-05-2025
Police officer under investigation over Facebook comment on domestic violence rally
A Gold Coast police officer is being investigated over an alleged social media comment insulting women who were protesting against domestic violence.
It came after The Gold Coast Bulletin reported on the May 11 rally at Broadbeach as part of a National Day of Action to support domestic violence victims.
The report on the outlet's Facebook page showed women holding signs which read: 'We are the voices of the women who no longer have one' and 'Walking home shouldn't be a death sentence'.
A comment on the report, from a Facebook account allegedly linked to the officer, said: 'All I see is a lot of women sitting around ... and a lot of sandwiches NOT getting made.'
The comment has since been deleted.
Queensland Police Service said both the comment and the officer who allegedly made it are being investigated.
'The Queensland Police Service is aware of this matter which is subject to internal investigation, it would be inappropriate to provide further comment at this stage,' QPS said.
Police Commissioner Shane Chelepy said the alleged comment was 'disappointing'.
'That's not the professional standards I expect, it's not the attitudes I expect,' he said.
'We work hard every single day of the week keeping our victims, victim survivors, safe in domestic and family violence incidents. We expect professional behaviour.'
On Thursday, Sunrise reporter Georgia Costi spoke about the incident.
'It's the type of thing that just isn't really socially acceptable to say, especially if you are in the position of someone like a police officer who is held to a higher standard,' Costi said.
'As you can imagine, this has caused a lot of outrage.
'The acting commissioner is aware of the comment and he says there is an internal investigation underway.
'But all of this does come only a few years after a really scathing review was handed down about the way police officers here in Queensland handled family and domestic violence cases.
'It found there is a long history of misogyny, so this is just not a very good look for our police on the Gold Coast.'
An Inquiry into Queensland police responses to domestic violence heard 1,676 complaints of sexist, racist, misogynistic and homophobic behaviour were made against officers from 2020 to 2022.
