Sunshine Coast woman Lou Lander hit out at the minister when she heard Ryan plead ignorance of the cultural problems within police ranks as uncovered by the recent Commission of Inquiry into the Queensland Police Service’s responses to domestic violence.

She said a “fish rots from the head”, blaming Ryan for the toxic environment highlighted by the commission’s report that has left many victims of domestic and family violence lacking support and dangerously exposed to their abusers.

Lander’s comments come as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and some of her ministers, including Ryan, attended a White Ribbon Day event to launch the Queensland Government’s Fourth Action Plan to tackle domestic and family violence.

Four years earlier, Lander’s shocking story of abuse, assaults and inadequate help from local police had been conveyed to Ryan by her local MP Jarrod Bleijie when she had nowhere else to turn.

The now deputy LNP leader joined Lander at a media conference on Friday where he detailed what Ryan had been told and when.

Two letters were sent to Ryan from Bleijie, one in October 2018 and the second in early 2019.

The follow-up letter received a response from Ryan, which according to Bleijie called his details “unfair and unfounded”.

“That says it all, really; the minister for police when he was told and warned about the allegations of cultural issues of how a domestic violence survivor was treated in Queensland, said they were ‘unfounded and unfair’,” Bleijie said.

“He accused me of politicising the issue and attacking police – I wasn’t. We had serious issues and we just wanted answers.”

Bleijie said that in frustration with Ryan’s lack of response he took Lander’s story to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in a bid to get his constituent support and to highlight wider problems with the police service.

“I pleaded with the premier to take this issue seriously,” he said.

Bleijie told reporters that Palaszczuk had given an assurance that a senior departmental executive would investigate but it was not explained when the probe would begin or what it would target.

Lander said the latest developments in addition to her own ordeal had left her incensed.

“I have so much correspondence, let alone what Jarrod has, where the minister has been copied in pleading for something to be done,” she said.

“I didn’t feel safe back then; I was still a victim; there were so many breaches and there still are so many breaches that have not been investigated.

“They just don’t care. They look after the perpetrator, not the victim.”

Ryan said he remembered Lander’s case and had always taken domestic violence matters “very seriously”.

“At the time this matter was brought to my attention, I checked with police to ensure that every possible support was provided to Ms Lander,” he said.

“This included Ms Lander being assigned a specific case manager- a sergeant at the Vulnerable Persons Unit, who I am advised had regular interaction with Ms Lander.

“I was also advised that charges were being laid against the accused.

“My heartfelt sympathies go to anyone caught up in domestic violence.”

At Friday’s White Ribbon Day breakfast in Brisbane, Palaszczuk said her government had spent more than $1.3 billion since 2015 on domestic violence services, programs and strategies “to address this scourge on society”.

Palaszczuk also committed to extending the term of the Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council through to June, 2026.

“We’ve been working hard for a long time to tackle domestic and family violence and until the violence stops, we won’t stop,” she said.