Steve Gollschewski

Steve "Golly" Gollschewski, born Stephan William Gollschewski in Brisbane into a policing family, joined the then Queensland Police Force in August 1980 as a 21-year-old recruit. His first job as a new officer was a domestic violence call. He later said his lofty ambition leaving the academy was to become a detective sergeant. He achieved that, and joked that everything after was "kind of been an accident." Over roughly 46 years he became one of the longest-serving officers in Queensland Police Service history (third-longest at retirement; only two people had served longer on the frontline).

His early and mid career moved through organised crime, intelligence, anti-corruption and counterterrorism. After the Fitzgerald Inquiry period he worked at the Criminal Justice Commission (later the Crime and Corruption Commission), including Italian organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gang work, and on the Carter Inquiry into police drug trafficking and undercover conduct. He moved to Ethical Standards Command in 1998, later led the State Intelligence Group, and was promoted to Assistant Commissioner in 2010. Colleagues nicknamed him "Mr Fix It."

Disaster command defined much of his public reputation. As a senior commander he led policing responses to the catastrophic January 2011 Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley floods, where 21 people died in his area of responsibility in a single day, including three children, with three bodies never recovered. He later called it the worst day of his career by far. He oversaw the 2012 flood evacuation of St George and responses to cyclones including Oswald, Ita, Marcia, Nathan and Debbie. From about 2013 he served as State Disaster Coordinator (with a secondment for the Games). In 2019 he led the Peregian Beach bushfire response. In early 2022 he was again on the frontline for severe southern Queensland flooding. In 2018, as commander of Operational Sentinel, he ran security for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, described as the largest security operation in Australia for that decade. He was also a key security figure around the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane (Brisbane Times career summary).

During COVID-19 he became a familiar face to Queenslanders, fronting media with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young. Responsible for airport and border security and hotel quarantine, he helped close Queensland's borders at short notice in March 2020, building what media called the "Great Wall of Coolangatta." Former commissioner Bob Atkinson later praised his calm, reliable pandemic leadership and his focus on making people feel safer as well as be safer. After the acute pandemic phase he described domestic and family violence reform as his toughest challenge yet: there is "no vaccine" for DFV, he told the ABC in 2023, while driving implementation of commission-of-inquiry recommendations after findings of sexism, racism and leadership failure in QPS responses to domestic violence.

When close friend and commissioner Katarina Carroll retired in February 2024, Gollschewski became interim chief and on 22 April 2024 was formally appointed Queensland's 21st Police Commissioner. He pledged to keep communities safer and make them feel safe, launched organisational review work, boosted recruitment (QPS later cited 2,123 new officers inducted in his commissionership period), and reported falls in complaints and attrition. Ten months into his five-year term, while at a swearing-in ceremony in Townsville, his GP called with a shock diagnosis: stage 4 lung cancer that had spread to his liver, bones and brain. A lifelong non-smoker and previously the picture of robust health, he took immediate leave in February 2025. He returned to full duties by September 2025 after what he called highly effective treatment, urging others never to give up hope. In February 2026 he announced retirement to put family and health first, with a last day of 20 February 2026. Hundreds lined streets around Brisbane police headquarters for a guard of honour and piping-out. Acting Commissioner Brett Pointing succeeded him.

In the 2026 King's Birthday Honours he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to law enforcement, to counter-terrorism activities, and to the community. Queensland Governor Dr Jeannette Young presented the medal at a private ceremony at Brisbane's Mater Private Hospital in August 2026. On the morning of Friday 4 September 2026, his family said their "darling Steve" died surrounded by love and admiration after a sudden and cruel complication on an 18-month cancer journey. He had given his all to family, policing and his beloved hockey team. Flags were lowered at Roma Street. Premier David Crisafulli, Police Minister Dan Purdie and Acting Commissioner Pointing paid public tribute. He is survived by his wife Rebecca and five children (one 2026 report said six; prefer five per self-report and ABC). Exact resting place and funeral details were not made public in sources reviewed for this brief.