‘Lay off my sick brother': NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley lashes out at Green MP over ‘drug addiction'

News.com.au

09-05-2025

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley is furious she is being quizzed over her brother's drug issues and says her difficult, private family issue is 'being weaponised' and used against her by a political foe.
Ms Catley told news.com.au she was outraged to receive questions from Greens MP Sue Higginson about whether she had told Police Commissioner Karen Webb of her brother's battle with drugs as she stated at the time of his arrest on March 1.
'I'm so angry, my family shouldn't have to put up with this, it's some kind of new low,' Ms Catley said.
Richard Evan Hillyer, 65, was charged with a series of drug offences after a car search in Newcastle.
In a statement at the time, Ms Catley said she was informed her brother had been charged and that she had disclosed her brother's issues with drugs to NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb when she became police minister.
'When I first became Minister for Police I disclosed this information to Commissioner Webb so she was fully informed of these circumstances in case it should ever become a policing issue,' she said.
Ms Higginson has put a series of questions on notice to the Minister about the issue, prompting an angry Ms Catley to say: 'To use this against me is some sort of new low'.
Ms Higginson asked: 'On what date did you first disclose to the NSW Police Commissioner that your brother, Richard Evan Hillyer, had illicit drug issues?'
'What was the nature of this disclosure, verbal, written, or otherwise?' and 'Was a formal record made of the disclosure within your office or the Commissioner's office?'
The Greens MP said that given there was no record of such a disclosure returned under a freedom of information request, how did the Minister explain this discrepancy?
'Do you maintain that the disclosure occurred?' she continued.
'If so, will you request the Commissioner confirm whether they received it? If no formal record was made, do you accept that this may constitute a failure of basic governance?'
Ms Higginson asked whether Ms Catley's office had 'taken any steps to clarify the public record or correct the administrative gap regarding this matter?'
Ms Catley said she was shocked someone would 'use their position in parliament to attack' her over her brother's addiction to drugs.
'My brother is sick. He is in rehabilitation. While I have chosen to be in public life, no one in my family has.
'And while she is not attacking him directly, the fact she has put the questions in will attract attention and that's exactly why she has done it.
'My family are good people, they don't deserve this. My brother is not a bad person, he's a really good person but unfortunately he is addicted to drugs. It's horrible and he is doing something about it which is great.
'To use this information against me is weaponising it and it's hypocritical when the Member claims to represent vulnerable people.'
Ms Catley said she has 'no obligation' to reveal her brother's battle with addiction, but chose to anyway.
'I would like the Member to point me where it says anywhere that you have to provide details of the health or mental health of your family members.
'I told the Commissioner of my concerns about my brother's drug addiction and that is all I knew at the time and it was my choice to do so.'
The case against Hillyer is due back before Newcastle Local Court for mention on May 26.
Police will allege they found an amount of cash, 8.06g of methylamphetamine and cannabis during the search of the vehicle.
Ms Higginson said in a statement to news.com.au that she believed there were inconsistencies between the Minister's public statements and police records regarding a disclosure about her brother.
'A member of the community provided my office with a return provided under the Government Information Public Access Act that showed no official record of a formal disclosure was made to the Commissioner by the Minister,' she said.
'Although the Minister is not required to make an official disclosure, the NSW Police Declarable Associations Policy sets out the importance of preventing perceived or actual conflicts of interest for people involved in the work of the police.
'The Greens support harm minimisation approaches to illegal substances and a health-based framework when responding to addiction.
'We also support transparency in public reporting of Executive Government and the NSW Police. After receiving reports from the community that an apparent inconsistency existed between public statements of the Minister and documents held by the Police, it is our responsibility to investigate this.'
The MP is a vocal advocate for the Greens' push to legalise cannabis and, in 2024, attended the Drug Summit in Lismore, where the focus was on better early intervention for people at risk of addiction, more diversion from courts and pill testing.
In 2023, she posted on Facebook: 'The main harm cannabis is causing is 80(,000) people getting dragged through the criminal justice system each year (16k to 20k people in NSW) and having their lives shattered and often destroyed'.
'As a lawyer I know the harm the cops and the criminal justice system causes people and their families,' she wrote.
'The reality is we are getting very close to decriminalising cannabis and moving to a harm minimisation system because we have more Greens in the NSW Parliament, a minority Labor Government and a community that is more than ready'.
She also attended the 2024 Drug Summit where the focus was on better early intervention for people at risk of addiction, more diversion from courts and pill testing.