Police Association SA Expels Candidate Darren Cornell For Telling the Truth About Shady President Wade Burns

A presidential candidate who ran against newly-appointed police association boss Wade Burns has been ousted from the union in a revenge move, with a leaked email claiming the decision was akin to a “Kangaroo Court”.

On July 12, Darren Cornell received a letter from the Police Association of South Australia (PASA) informing him the union was considering expelling him for comments made during the election campaign against the alleged conduct of Burns.

Burns had been previously demoted at SAPOL after he committed a “forceful” indecent assault on a female colleagiue at a work-related function in 2017.

SAPOL covered the matter up, hiding behind the draconian Police Complaints and Discipline Act 2016. After MP Frank Pangallo revealed the sordid incident under parliamentary privilege, Cornell was one of the many people who pointed out that Burns’ position was untenable and that he should resign.

Cornell said he had since been informed that the PASA Committee had on Thursday night passed a motion to expel him and two other association delegates.

In an email sent to PASA members on Friday, Cornell said he believed the “Kangaroo Court” process had “prevented a fair and competitive contest” in the March 2025 PASA election, as expulsion means he cannot run.

“EPSB has stated I did not breach SAPOL’s code of conduct at any time during the election period.”

In his email, Cornell said six other workplace delegates had recently lodged a formal complaint to the union about the actions of PASA Committee members prior to, during and post the election.

“This complaint was also supported wholly, or in part, by other delegates. Their complaint also requested PASA Committee call a Special Meeting of members to discuss the concerns they raised,” Cornell said.

Cornell said PASA did not agree to the Special Meeting and instead sent the six authors show cause notices “threatening their expulsion”.

Pangallo said the decision to expel the three members “because they spoke out about the conduct of the union and its president” was “utterly outrageous”.

“The fact that they are prepared to get rid of critics who threaten their stronghold should shock their rank and file members … it almost reads like a page ripped out of the CFMEU songbook,” he said.

“It’s time they spoke up against the management and had a really good look at how they are running their affairs and managing their funds.”

Burns was demoted from chief inspector to senior sergeant in 2017 after he indecently assaulted the then-civilian female SA Police employee. No charges were laid.

He was subsequently reinstated to the rank of inspector.

Following the claims being made public, Burns dismissed the allegations against him as “an internal workplace matter that was dealt with many years ago” and said he “was never charged with an assault of any kind”.

After the sexual assault allegations were made public, Burns stood down as chair of the Basketball SA Commission and the Woodcroft College council and individuals who had given testimonials asked for them to be reoved from his website.

Burns’ favoruable treatment may be due to his father being the former commissioner of SAPOL, an organisation where sexual predation and misogynistic behaviour is the norm.

Source

Police Association SA expels candidate Darren Cornell for comments made about President Wade Burns. The Advertiser.