Queensland’s top cop retires after nearly 50 years

By Robyn Wuth

Almost a year after a devastating diagnosis of stage four cancer, one of the nation’s most senior officers has announced his retirement.

Queensland Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski, 66, will retire on February 20 to focus on his family and his health.

He returned to service in September after treatment for stage four cancer, which spread from his lungs to his bones, liver and brain.

It has been a major factor in his decision to hang up the uniform after 46 years as part of the thin blue line.

“My diagnosis of cancer was exactly a year ago – I remain on treatment,” the commissioner said on Wednesday.

Mr Gollschewski – the living embodiment of the policing stiff upper lip – choked back tears as he paid tribute to the teams of doctors and nurses who have helped him in his fight against the deadly disease.

“We, as a family, are deeply indebted to what they’ve been able to do … pardon me … they gave me the ability to return as commissioner,” he said.

“More importantly, to look forward to spending more time with family into the future, which is the key thing.”

It has been a stellar career for a man who has soared far higher than he could have dreamed as a fresh-faced recruit, where his greatest ambition was to one day make detective sergeant.

“Everything else has been an accident,” he said.

“And to be really honest, that was probably my favourite part of my career, was when I was out there locking up perpetrators and looking after victims.”

It was as the stoic face of Queensland’s COVID frontline that Mr Gollschewski gained wider recognition on a national stage.

He took over as commissioner in 2024 amid a youth crime crisis, tasked with repairing the damage from a scathing commission of inquiry that revealed a “failure of leadership” over a culture of racism and sexism.

Police Minister Dan Purdie paid tribute to the officer who has dedicated his life to law and order in Queensland.