Lanyon arrives with plenty of baggage. The premier will have to bear it

2 weeks ago 2

Opinion

September 24, 2025 — 7.30pm

The appointment of Mal Lanyon as the next NSW police commissioner – despite his abusive alcohol-fuelled episode under the world’s largest concrete ram, and hosting New Year’s Eve for mates on an operational police boat – was not a surprise in the end.

The bigger surprise was how Premier Chris Minns handled it.

Mal Lanyon (left), NSW’s next commissioner of police, and NSW Premier Chris Minns on Wednesday.

Minns made it clear that Lanyon, a 38-year veteran of the NSW Police Force, was his pick for arguably the most senior, and certainly most political, job in the public service. Premiers always have the ultimate say on who gets the job, so Minns is no outlier in the handpicking of Lanyon.

But no commissioner in recent history has arrived in the top job with the same amount of baggage.

This seemed to matter little to Minns. “If we’re only picking people who have got completely lily-white records,” Minns said last week, “then we’ll be missing out on a lot of people that can contribute to public life.” Minns was commenting on revelations, uncovered by the Herald, that Lanyon allowed his wife and another couple to accompany him on the police boat OPV Nemesis on New Year’s Eve in 2023.

Clearly, Minns’ definition of a lily-white record is wishy-washy. Wannabe MPs with any questionable backstory face having their nomination for preselection knocked out at the first hurdle rather than past mistakes later emerging and causing embarrassment for their respective party. A different standard exists for a police commissioner.

Lanyon rightly conceded his boat decision was “inappropriate” but justified it by insisting the Nemesis was large, seemingly oblivious to the special taxpayer-funded treatment his mates received rather than the space they took up on the operational boat. It is also worth remembering this is not a blip made when he was an inexperienced officer. The Sydney Harbour jaunt happened in 2023.

Worse was the unsavoury incident underneath the Big Merino. In 2021, Lanyon was found drunk in the shadow of Goulburn’s most famous attraction after an official function at the nearby police academy. He was a deputy commissioner at this stage.

Being drunk off-duty is no crime, but Lanyon went on to swear at the paramedics who came to his aid. Lanyon’s seniority in the police force meant he had a direct line to NSW Ambulance CEO Dominic Morgan, which he used. In both cases, Lanyon exploited his position.

The Big Merino snafu troubled then-premier Dominic Perrottet enough to rule Lanyon out of the top job in 2022. Perrottet instead appointed the state’s first female commissioner, Karen Webb. Webb lasted only three years into her five-year term, leaving the post early after intense pressure over her poor communication skills. Most believe Webb was pushed.

To err is human, and Lanyon did not hide behind his past when he addressed the media on Wednesday as the worst-kept secret in Sydney was confirmed following a cabinet meeting. Minns was also quick to point out that the decision on the next police commissioner was not “made based on who had the mistake-free perfect record”.

But what could not be hidden at the press conference confirming the new commissioner was awkwardness between Police Minister Yasmin Catley and Lanyon. Catley and Lanyon professed professional respect for each other, but it had been openly spoken about in political circles that he was not the minister’s preferred choice. History shows who wins in a commissioner v minister battle.

Almost 33 years to the day, Liberal police minister Ted Pickering quit his portfolio over “irreconcilable differences” with the then-police commissioner, Tony Lauer. Pickering told parliament he had not been briefed about a death in custody. Lauer contradicted Pickering and said the minister had been told within hours.

“I cannot and will not work alongside Mr Lauer for another day,” Pickering told parliament at the time. “It was the greatest kick in the guts politically that I have had in my life.” Pickering was moved to the justice portfolio and Lauer remained in his post for another four years.

Catley’s relationship with Lanyon is unlikely to hit those depths. But Lanyon is Minns’ choice, and the opposition is already seizing on a perceived rift between the premier and his police minister. On Wednesday, the Opposition Leader Mark Speakman did a psychoanalysis of Catley’s demeanour at the press conference.

“It is said to have been an open secret that the police minister did not want Mal Lanyon, and her body language today certainly didn’t contradict that,” was Speakman’s take. “I would love to have been a fly on the wall at the cabinet meeting and seen [the] look on Yasmin Catley’s face [when Lanyon’s appointment was confirmed].”

Catley may have been on the commissioner interview panel, but it was Minns (armed with the knowledge that Lanyon had the backing of the all-powerful Police Association) who got his man. Lanyon does have a long distinguished history in the force, and has the experience expected of a leader who will be there, as Minns put it, for NSW during its worst days.

But this appointment is on Minns, and if there are any other skeletons in Lanyon’s cupboard, the premier will need a good definition of his version of lily-white.

Alexandra Smith is the NSW state political editor.

Get a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up for our Opinion newsletter.