No action against police in Palm Is death

A senior Queensland police officer has found six officers involved in flawed investigations into the Palm Island death in custody should not face disciplinary charges.
Deputy Commissioner Kathy Rynders has instead found the officers should face only "managerial guidance", The Australian newspaper reports.
The ruling flies in the face of a Crime and Misconduct Commission recommendation last year that the officers should face disciplinary action.
Martin Moynihan, who heads the crime and corruption watchdog, is expected to confirm on Tuesday that a legal loophole has left the CMC powerless to challenge Ms Rynders' findings in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT).
The CMC had vowed to take the matter to QCAT if it was dissatisfied with the police response.
Last year, a third coronial inquest delivered an open finding into the 2004 death of Cameron Doomadgee on the floor of the Palm Island watchhouse.
Mr Doomadgee succumbed to massive internal injuries after a scuffle with his arresting officer Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, who was later acquitted of manslaughter over the incident.
Coroner Brian Hine, who heard the third inquest, said he could not definitively say if the injuries that killed Mr Doomadgee were deliberately or accidentally inflicted in a scuffle with Sgt Hurley.
But Mr Hine said there was evidence that other police had colluded to protect Sgt Hurley.
In its report last year, the CMC found there had been serious flaws in the initial investigation, conducted by four officers who fraternised with Sgt Hurley while they were on the island investigating his actions.
It also found errors in a subsequent internal review by two senior officers.
At the time, Mr Moynihan accused Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson of presiding over a culture of self-protection within the police service.
Police Minister Neil Roberts told reporters he could not comment on The Australian's report, pending an announcement by the CMC boss on Tuesday afternoon.
"I don't know whether we will ever see the end of this matter," he said. "But in the end we need to allow the processes that have been put in place take their course.
"We have a robust accountability process in Queensland."
Police union president Ian Leavers said Ms Rynders' position vindicated the long-held view that the investigating officers should not face disciplinary action.
He said that view had been supported time and time again after various assessments of the case.
"This is a commonsense decision," Mr Leavers said.
He defended the actions of the investigating officers.
"There are no restaurants on Palm Island, there are no taxis on Palm Island. There were no other ways at the time to be on Palm Island," he said.
"... it was appropriate in the time, place and circumstances for the officers to have conducted themselves in the way that they did."
Mr Leavers said things has changed in recent years, and different protocols now applied to uphold the integrity of internal police investigations.
But he agreed with Queensland Council of Civil Liberties spokesman Terry O'Gorman, who has said the police complaints and disciplinary system is broken and must be fixed.
"Neither the police nor the public have any confidence in the current police disciplinary system," Mr Leavers said.
"No one knows where they stand, even the CMC don't know where they stand."
Mr Leavers said the CMC had been given an opportunity to take over the Palm Island investigation at a very early stage but declined to do so.
"They've simply been blaming the police department ever since," he said.
Mr O'Gorman said the police complaints system must change.
"It was a straight forward investigation," he told AAP. "The allegation was Chris Hurley's mates were able to investigate him.
"They wined and dined him and why it has taken more than six years to come to a non-conclusion is beyond ridiculous. It's absurd.
"Nothing is going to happen except the police concerned will get a talking to, that's what managerial guidance is, and this shows the system is broken."