Four gay police officers allege they were targeted on the basis of their sexuality

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Lawyers for the New South Wales police force have urged a tribunal not to be “hypersensitive” in considering whether four gay officers were discriminated against because of their sexuality.

On Tuesday the state’s civil and administrative tribunal heard closing submissions from the NSW police in a discrimination case filed by three openly gay male officers from the Newtown local area command and one of their long-term partners, who previously worked at the station.

The case, which has been running since October, alleges the officers were targeted on the basis of their sexuality when they became the focus of an eight-person strike force code named Andro, which was assembled to investigate alleged “illicit drug use”.

The complaint, which was made against the officers by their superior, Superintendent Simon Hardman, shows police initially cited “supposition” and “guilt by association” as justification for the investigation.

A copy of the complaint seen by the Guardian claimed some of the officers were “notorious for their promiscuity” and had a reputation for “loose morals”.

“Drug use is thought to be fundamental in such indiscriminate sexual encounters,” the complaint stated.

But the investigation found “no direct evidence of drug use” or “related misconduct” against any of the officers, and the four claim the internal investigation was part of a wider culture of “homophobic prejudice” at the Newtown (an inner-city suburb in Sydney) command.

In affidavits filed at the beginning of the case the four officers – Stephen Rapisarda, Shane Housego, Christopher Sheehy and Christian McDonald – all detailed what they argued was evidence of a culture of homophobia at the command.

McDonald, who has subsequently left the force, wrote that after being taken to hospital with head injuries he sustained after hitting his head on a pavement, a manager remarked that he “should be used to having your head down arse up in the concrete”.

When he requested annual leave for his same-sex marriage anniversary he was allegedly told by a superior: “Same-sex marriage is not OK with me. It disgusts me.”

Similarly, Sheehy said he had received “homophobic, negative and derogatory comments made by police officers, particularly among senior officers in management positions” at the Newtown command.

But on Tuesday lawyers acting for NSW police said the evidence “almost wholly fails [to] nail a connection between the various matters referred to and Superintendent Hardman”.

Instead he said they pointed to a “general culture” or in some cases a “sense” of discrimination that was “isolated”. He urged the commissioner not to make a judgment on the basis of “hypersensitivity”.

“The nature of the allegations do not rise to a demonstration of some sort of culture of discrimination,” barrister John Fernon said.

The case before the state’s civil and administrative tribunal had been due to come to a close on Tuesday, but will now continue in August when layers acting for the four complainants will make their closing submissions.

