People ‘need to be held accountable’ for police station debacle: minister

The state’s police minister says he hopes people will be held accountable for “possibly the worst deal for taxpayers in the history of Queensland”.

In 2023 the Queensland Police Service committed to about $116 million in lease costs over 15 years – or more than $500,000 a month – for 433 Logan Road in Stones Corner, which it later found was unfit for purpose as a station and never occupied.

A Crime and Corruption Commission investigation released on Thursday found a superintendent without significant commercial property experience led negotiations for the exorbitant lease, when the building would have been significantly cheaper to buy outright.

It also said QPS had not secured funding for the building before the contract was signed.

The investigation did not make findings of corruption, but identified significant governance and control weaknesses that led to the high-profile bungled agreement.

Police Minister Dan Purdie spoke to reporters on Friday morning about the report, framing it as the responsibility of the former Labor government and now-opposition leader Steven Miles.

“We now know that is the worst deal in Queensland Police history, possibly the worst deal for taxpayers in the history of Queensland,” he said.

Purdie added: “Queenslanders are left with this bill. Labor … need to own it now, and I still think people need to be held accountable.”

The minister confirmed the government was exploring possible options to get out of the lease legally.

Acting police commissioner Brett Pointing spoke to reporters on Thursday afternoon, apologising for the failure and saying the QPS would accept all recommendations from the CCC.

“I think there are two groups of people that I’d like to apologise to,” he said.

“One is the Queensland community. This is a large waste of taxpayers’ money.

“[The other is] the men and women of the QPS. That’s a significant amount of money that I’d rather be spending on keeping the community safe.”

He did not reveal how a superintendent ended up negotiating the deal, and declined to say if heads would roll over the scandal.

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