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Ferguson’s Office Notified of Ex-Cop’s Child Abuse Before Funeral
WARNING: This story discusses allegations of child sexual abuse and suicide and may cause distress; discretion is advised.
by Alexandra Alvaro, ABC
Ex-police minister’s office notified of child sex abuse concerns before Paul Reynolds’s honour-guard funeral
The office of former Tasmanian police minister Michael Ferguson received a police briefing note warning of child sex allegations against a senior officer before the force held a police funeral and full guard of honour for him, documents obtained by RTI show.
Senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds, who served as a police officer for almost 40 years, died by suicide in September 2018, while he was under investigation by Tasmania Police.
The interim report into the police’s handling of child sex allegations against Mr Reynolds found he groomed and sexually abused teenage boys between 1988 and 2018, largely in the state’s north and north-west, and used his positions in community sport to abuse teenage boys.
Read the full story here: Ex-police minister’s office notified of child sex abuse concerns before Paul Reynolds’s honour-guard funeral – ABC News
Media release – Dean Winter MP, 18 March 2024
Ferguson must answer questions about his paedophile cop cover up
The Liberals’ campaign is in crisis with Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson going into hiding after it was revealed he let paedophile cop Paul Reynolds’ state funded police funeral go ahead despite knowing about serious allegations against him.
Mr Ferguson must front up and answer questions today about the role he played in covering up Reynolds’s abhorrent actions.
What did the Minister know, and when did he know it?
And if he found out in 2018 as per the briefing note, why weren’t the allegations investigated until 2022?
If Michael Ferguson can’t front up and answer these questions, then Mr Rockliff needs to sack him.
It was less than six months ago that Rockliff sacked Elise Archer.
At that time, Rockliff said “These remarks are unacceptable by any standard, and unequivocally fall short of the standards I expect of my Ministers.
“As I said this week, if culture is to change in this state, it requires leadership and accountability, starting at the top. And I intend to lead by example in doing exactly that.”
If there was ever a time for Jeremy Rockliff to show leadership and accountability it’s now.
There are also serious questions Mr Rockliff needs to answer today, including when he knew about the allegations against Paul Reynolds, and why he took so long to do anything.
Media release – Jack Davenport, independent candidate for Bass, 18 March 2024
Comments from Jack Davenport in response to yesterday’s news report that the Liberal government was aware of a criminal investigation into Paul Reynolds prior to his state funeral
We are faced with familiar revelations that people in government were aware of serious allegations of child abuse, but failed to act appropriately. Many in the community, especially victim-survivors and whistleblowers, will have been disturbed to see the culture of secrecy yet again protecting those in power, and prioritising agency reputation over child safety.
We need greater transparency in government, and a proactive approach to information. It shouldn’t take a selectively released RTI, pertaining to events over five years ago, to bring into the public domain awareness of unethical decision-making and unacceptable disregard for child safety.
We need more proactive releases of information for public awareness, not having to chase down crucial details through laborious administrative processes.
We should consider having a live register of ministerial sign-offs, so that people can access these in real time. Any potentially confidential information could be referred to an appropriate parliamentary committee to consider before releasing details; at least that way there will be oversight.
Media release – Simon Behrakis, Member for Clark, 18 March 2024
Greens Leader Caught Covering Up
Greens Leader Rosalie Woodruff has been caught out trying to cover up her shabby attempt to politicise the Paul Reynolds case.
Ms Woodruff this morning told ABC Radio:
We didn’t make it public now. Yes, it was received in November. And we talked about it in November. But it was the ABC who made it public now, it wasn’t up to us. You know, we didn’t raise it at this point. It’s something we’ve been talking about —
ABC host: So you were approached by ABC News, and hence, that’s how it unfolded?
Woodruff: Hello. Yes, that’s exactly right.
We understand this is false.
Ms Woodruff approached the media on Friday to re-prosecute her November RTI in the final week of the election campaign.
She didn’t raise it in Parliamentary Question Time.
She didn’t raise it at COI scrutiny.
She has sought to weaponise it in the final week of an election campaign, with no regard for victim-survivors.
As one victim-survivor told the ABC:
“This isn’t about getting answers for survivors and their families, it is a disgusting stunt that has done nothing but ensure that today the survivors are reliving their trauma.”
And now Ms Woodruff is trying to cover up her role in the stunt.
Twitter comment – Meg Webb, independent MLC for Nelson, 18 March 2024
Unsurprising of Tas Liberals to deliberately mischaracterize accountability as politicisation
Revelation that then-Minister for Police, Michael Ferguson had a briefing note from the Dept informing him of the CSA allegations against Paul Reynolds prior to the full police funeral for Reynolds, is highly concerning and could well be serious enough to be regarded as bringing the Crown into disrepute.
Whether Ferguson saw the briefing note before or after the funeral, he failed to act on it and that is a damning indictment of his performance and suitability to be a Minister.
It is virtually impossible to believe that Minister Ferguson’s office did not immediately bring a briefing note of such sensitivity and consequence to the Minister’s attention. If he did see it before and allowed the police funeral to proceed – he failed to act appropriately according to his duty as a Minister.
If, as he claims is likely, he did not see the briefing note until 3 wks later on the date he signed it – he apparently did nothing at that point, and so failed to act appropriately and transparently as a Minister.
Michael Ferguson has deeply concerning questions to answer on this matter – it should have occurred and been resolved at the earliest opportunity, but the fact it is happening during an election campaign is largely the result of his own secrecy and apparent inaction keeping the matter hidden for so long.
Rather than spurious attacks on other Parliamentarians for exposing his questionable lack of action, Michael Ferguson should have the integrity now to be entirely honest and transparent in answering all questions on this matter.
Of particular interest would be:
– After reading and signing that Dept briefing note, did Michael Ferguson as Minister inform the then-Premier about the revelations it contained about Paul Reynolds?
– Did they discuss the problematic implications of the State providing a full police funeral to an officer under active investigation for child sex abuse?
– And if not, why not??