Mal Lanyon appointed NSW police commissioner

3 hours ago 1

After months of speculation, rumours and bitter factional politics at the top of the NSW Police Force, Labor has appointed former NSW Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon as the next police commissioner.

Premier Chris Minns overlooked two incidents that threatened to derail Lanyon’s chances, including a New Year’s Eve joyride with mates on a police boat and a drunken run-in with ambulance officers, saying a police commissioner did not need a lily-white record.

Mal Lanyon will replace Karen Webb (left) as NSW police commissioner.

He is expected to take the reins on October 1. Lanyon has the support of the powerful NSW Police Association, as well as the NSW MP who is most vocal on police matters, former detective and upper house member Rod Roberts.

Minns was not deterred by Lanyon’s recent admission that he should have thought more carefully before taking his wife and another couple on an operational police boat on New Year’s Eve a few years ago, saying everyone made bad decisions.

He also overlooked an incident in Goulburn in early 2021, when paramedics were called to a motel near the police academy because Lanyon was lying drunk on the footpath. The deputy commissioner told the ambulance officers to “f--- off” before calling their boss, the chief executive of Ambulance NSW, Dr Dominic Morgan.

Premier Chris Minns with Mal Lanyon, right, at a press conference about Cyclone Alfred in March 2025.

Minns hinted on Friday that Lanyon was the front-runner, saying “there’s not too many perfect people out there. If we’re only picking people who have got completely, completely lily-white records then we’ll be missing out on a lot of people that can contribute to public life.”

Lanyon takes the reins after his predecessor, Karen Webb, left 18 months before her term was due to finish, making her the first commissioner in the post-Wood Royal Commission era to have her tenure cut short of the standard five years.

While Minns says it was her decision, multiple political and police sources say he encouraged her to go and intended Lanyon as her replacement.

Lanyon, a deputy commissioner since early 2019, had been on secondment to the NSW Reconstruction Authority since April last year. He was moved there by Minns due to fractures in his relationship with Webb, multiple sources told the Herald on the condition of anonymity.

Lanyon had been favourite for the police commissioner job when it was last vacant in late 2021, but his candidacy was derailed by the Goulburn incident.

The government has taken its time to make the decision; the first round of interviews were held almost two months ago, in late July. Six candidates were narrowed down to three, all deputy commissioners who put their hands up for the role.

The delay has prompted criticism the force had been left without certainty during a difficult period that has included public-place shootings, mass protests, conflict with the federal police and claims of Iranian involvement in an antisemitic crime.

Lanyon grew up in Rydalmere and cut his police teeth in the old eighth division, a once-rough area that took in Glebe, Balmain and Leichhardt (which also produced fellow deputy Dave Hudson and influential former deputy Nick Kaldas).

He has held senior jobs within the organisation, including head of the State Crime Command and corporate services. He remains close to Hudson, who did not put himself forward for the top job.

His appointment leaves a vacancy at the top of the Reconstruction Authority, which helps communities recover from, and protect themselves, against natural disasters.

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