David Elliott

David Elliott served as NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services from January 2017 to December 2022 in the Berejiklian and Perrottet governments. His tenure is relevant to this project primarily through his August 2019 response to the NSW Legislative Council Standing Committee on Social Issues’ interim report on Gay and Transgender hate crimes between 1970 and 2010 (Report 58).

In that response, Minister Elliott stated that the NSW Police Force had accepted all twelve recommendations of Strike Force Parrabell’s final report, and expressed confidence that “the views and attitudes of the NSW Police Force today towards this community are positive, respectful and professional.” The response was widely criticised by inquiry participants. ACON described it as “somewhat tone-deaf” — “a very dry, bureaucratic letter” that failed to acknowledge the horror of past crimes, provided no reassurance that past wrongs would not be repeated, and was limited to police matters when broader criminal justice and health system accountability was needed. ACON CEO Nicolas Parkhill described it as leaving a feeling of being “dismissed” and characterised it as part of “a pattern of disengagement.”

Ms Sue Thompson, former NSW Police Gay/Lesbian Consultant, questioned the confidence expressed by Elliott given the then-unfolding Scott Johnson case, describing the Johnson investigation as “one of the most disappointing eras of public service process” she had ever seen.

The minister’s response is documented in Report 58 as a catalyst for further calls for a judicial inquiry — the inquiry that eventually became the Sackar Commission. It represents a data point in the project’s broader accountability tracking: the gap between institutional self-assessment and community experience of justice.

Tenure dates sourced from Wikipedia: David Elliott (politician). Wikipedia is used for reference only; substantive claims are sourced to primary documents cited elsewhere in this project.