New South Wales Police faced renewed demands for transparency on Tuesday after graphic videos broadcast by ABC's Four Corners showed officers beating people under arrest. The program put fresh pressure on a force already under fire over accusations of gratuitous violence and cover-ups.
For many viewers, the most disturbing clip involved Tom Starling, the Canberra NRL player who was restrained while two officers punched him until he appeared to be unconscious. Police charged Starling with assaulting four officers, but those charges were later dropped after a lengthy legal process. Two officers involved in that case have since been charged with assaulting Starling and are due to go to trial later in 2026.
That is why the broadcast landed hard. University of Newcastle criminologist Justin Ellis said the way police behave is shaped by culture inside the organisation, and that greater transparency is one of the clearest ways to change it. He called for mandatory body-worn cameras, more detailed reporting on the outcomes of complaints against officers and public data on settlements in civil cases involving police.
The second clip went even further. It showed two officers bashing a schizophrenic woman, pepper spraying her in the eyes and genitals, kicking and stomping on her, and dragging her by the hair. NSW Premier Chris Minns said both officers were fired and jailed, but he pushed back on the idea that the scenes proved a force acting with impunity. He said there were people with bad intent, terrible judgment or bad character in any large police service, while insisting the public should have confidence in the state's independent investigatory bodies.
That view did not satisfy critics. Former police officer and criminologist Michael Kennedy said there was no defence for what the videos showed. Greens MP Sue Higginson said the system governing police accountability was not up to scratch, arguing that police investigate themselves and that the default arrangement is not working. She wants the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission given more powers and more investigators to probe complaints.
The row now turns on whether the outcry will become reform. Ellis's argument is straightforward: if culture sets the tone for how the law is enforced and misconduct is handled, then the case for more openness is not abstract but immediate. The bigger unanswered question is whether New South Wales Police will accept changes that make complaints, punishments and settlements easier for the public to see.
