The Hon. Sue Higginson, Greens MP and Justice Spokesperson, Media Release, 16 June 2026

A Law Enforcement Conduct Commission’s Operation Almas has criticised the police response to the violent death of Ballina woman Lindy Lucena at the hands of her partner in 2023. 

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has opposed all recommendations made by the LECC aimed at improving police responses to incidents of domestic violence in future. 

The LECC’s report is fiercely critical of the Commissioner’s submissions, describing them as “misconceived”, “internally inconsistent”, “unfortunate” and engaging in “their own form of hindsight bias”. 

Greens MP and Justice Spokesperson Sue Higginson said, “When a woman is being bashed and facing death at the hands of her violent partner, every second in a police response counts,

“The independent police watchdog has made important recommendations to improve police responses to domestic violence incidents, and unbelievably the Police have rejected every single recommendation,

“I raised this with the Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon and Police Minister Yasmin Catley in a Budget Estimates hearing because I thought the position must have been an error, but police have now maintained their rejection of all recommendations. These are recommendations to improve policing and to protect victims of domestic violence, it is nothing less than a disgrace and I am urging the Minister and the Commissioner to change their position,  

“Lindy Lucena was a mother, a sister and a friend. An inadequate police response played a role in her death. 

“It is clear from all of the evidence Lindy was failed by every police decision. A police officer made a decision to prioritise attending a minor traffic incident, where there were already police in attendance, above responding to a call that had reported ‘there’s a man bashing the hell out of his woman at the back of the Salvation Army’, 

“I just know if a police officer thought it was his daughter, sister, wife, or mother who was the woman getting bashed it would have been different. When police finally arrived at the location of the bashing, they didn’t even get out of the police car, Lindy was then further failed, 

“The LECC have rightly found that the police response to Lindy’s death was inadequate, that they failed in their duty. I believe they should have also found misconduct on the part of the officers involved, 

“The question remains whether a quicker police response might have saved Ms Lucena’s life. The LECC has found that is ultimately a question for the Coroner. I have written to the Coroner today calling for that inquest to commence now.” 

Background

Ms Lucena was fatally bashed by her partner at a Salvation Army building in Ballina. 

 A 000 call alerted police to the fact that “‘there’s a man bashing the hell out of his woman at the back of the Salvation Army”. 

The call was logged at 7:03 pm as a Priority 2 job. The job was not broadcast until 7:10 pm, seven minutes late, and was only re-broadcast twice more before police attended, far short of the required 60-second intervals.

Police arrived at 7:55 pm, drove slowly down the laneway in their vehicles, and left within three and a half minutes having seen nothing. Neither officer got out of their car. One officer falsely told the LECC he had gotten out of his car and searched the premises, before admitting this was incorrect under cross-examination. 

Ms Lucena’s body was found in the covered area beside the Salvation Army building by Robert Huber, her killer, who walked into Ballina Police Station at 12:40 am on 4 January and told police he thought his partner was dead. 

No critical incident was declared. The Acting Assistant Commissioner who considered the question never turned her mind to the public interest ground under s 111(1)(b) of the LECC Act, and no P1179 form was completed documenting the decision. When the LECC later asked to see the form, the Professional Standards Command said there was no obligation to provide it without disclosing that no form existed at all. Robert Huber was convicted of manslaughter in July 2025.

The decision of the police to reject all preliminary recommendations to Operation Almas was raised with the Commissioner of Police Mal Lanyon and Police Minister Yasmin Catley at a Budget Estimates Hearing on 27 February 2026. The Commissioner and Minister both said they had not seen the submissions. 

Labor Minister Yasmin Catley said she stood by submissions made in answers to supplementary questions.