New information aired by the Badge of Betrayal podcast has raised further questions about the Paul Reynolds matter. It demonstrates why more must be done to investigate how and why the Tasmania Police and Government responded to this issue as they did.
In recent months this podcast has aired accounts from current officers within Tasmania Police, spoken to people who knew police officer Paul Reynolds, and exposed new details through Right to Information applications. This work has reinforced and added to the long-standing concerns the Greens have held about unexamined issues in this matter.
Through information obtained using RTI and aired on the podcast this week, it has come to light that former Commissioner Darren Hine’s relationship with Paul Reynolds was much more extensive than previously understood by the public.
This new RTI shows that Mr Hine attended the Police Academy with Paul Reynolds in 1980, shows the two men started their career together at the Burnie station, and were again posted together at Burnie later that decade. Their friendship seems to have continued throughout their careers. As described by whistleblower Will Smith in 2024, Paul Reynolds “openly admitted that he had a very strong friendship with the Commissioner of Police”.
The independent Weiss Review noted that during the time both Hine and Reynolds were in the Police Academy, “loyalty to one’s policing colleagues usurped all”. It also said “this impenetrable camaraderie assisted in concealing Reynolds’ conduct, intentionally or otherwise.”
The Greens do not make any allegations of wrongdoing by former Commissioner Hine. We do not allege he had any knowledge of offending by Reynolds at the time it occurred. However, given this long-standing relationship, and Mr Hine’s involvement in Tasmania Police’s poor responses to circumstances involving allegations made about Reynolds in 2008 and 2018, there are clearly outstanding questions.
It is a matter of public record through the Commission of Inquiry’s report that, as Deputy Commissioner, Mr Hine was involved in responding to concerns about Reynolds’ behaviour. As current Commissioner Donna Adams has since acknowledged, Tasmania Police’s response at this time was not appropriate.
It is a matter of public record that Mr Hine as Commissioner of Police agreed to hold a funeral with full honours, and deliver a eulogy, for Paul Reynolds despite knowing of the allegations and evidence against him at that time.
It is a matter of public record that investigations into Reynolds’ offending did not continue after his death, and that the extent of his crimes would not have been known if not for the Commission of Inquiry, and subsequently the Weiss Review. This is despite senior figures in Tasmania Police being aware of the 2018 material and allegations against Reynolds, and also the initial concerns formally raised about him in 2008.
Mr Hine was never required to face scrutiny about these matters during his time as Commissioner (he retired one month before the Coronial Inquest into Reynolds’ death commenced, where Reynolds’ abusing of young people was revealed to the public for the first time). The Greens repeatedly raised concerns about the narrow scope of the Terms of Reference for the Weiss Review, which did not allow a comprehensive examination of how Tasmania Police responded to Reynolds either in 2008 or 2018. The circumstances around the funeral were entirely excluded from the Weiss Review’s scope of work. There has also been no clarity about who else in DPFEM management was aware of these allegations prior to the full honours police funeral.
With the new information provided through the podcast, and the many identified unanswered questions, further examination is clearly required. Appropriately, the government would lead this process, but unfortunately the Police Minister has refused to engage with this matter – when establishing the Weiss Review, and again when the Greens raised it with him last year. As such, we feel we have no other option but to seek an alternative avenue.
The Greens acknowledge this is a difficult topic that some would prefer is forgotten. However, we recognise the strong sentiment from victim-survivors that our institutions have for too long resisted proper investigation of matters of child sexual abuse. Victim-survivors have called us to apply scrutiny and accountability for the mistakes of the past to ensure there is meaningful and lasting change into the future. This is why we will be seeking the support of House of Assembly Committee B to examine this matter.
A Parliamentary committee was not our first choice to consider the Reynolds’ matter, but it nonetheless has significant advantages. These include the ability to hold both public and confidential hearings; the protection of parliamentary privilege; the requirement that witnesses swear truthful testimony; and the ability to require the government to produce documents if needed.
In the coming weeks we will be engaging with MPs to discuss our rationale for this proposal, to seek their support, and (if there is agreement) to define the scope of work. If successful, we are hopeful the Committee will be able to ask and answer the questions that still have not been addressed in this deeply disturbing saga.
Previous Parliamentary statements on the matter:
https://tasgreensmps.org/parliament/speeches/parliamentary-statements-on-reynolds-matter-december-2025-rosalie-woodruff-mp/
