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PARLIAMENT OF TASMANIA HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY REPORT OF DEBATES Wednesday 2 December 2020 REVISED EDITION Wednesday 2 December 2020 The Speaker, Ms Hickey, took the Chair at 10 a.m., acknowledged the Traditional People and read Prayers. QUESTIONS Launceston General Hospital - Child Abuse Claims - Actions of Minister, Mr Shelton Ms WHITE question to MINISTER FOR POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY MANGEMENT, Mr SHELTON [10.02 a.m.] Yesterday on multiple occasions you said you would not speculate on what might or might not have happened if you had acted on information you received about James Griffin more than a year ago. In fact, you could have helped launch a wider investigation into his offending against children. You said it would not have been your place to speak about an ongoing police investigation. In fact, there was no active investigation because it ended when Griffin died in October last year. It is becoming clearer and clearer that you simply washed your hands of this matter when you could have, and should have, taken it to your ministerial colleagues to broaden investigations, to help identify survivors of Griffin's vile behaviour across several areas of Government. The fact that you did nothing, minister, is frankly astounding. Do you still maintain that it was the right thing for you to do nothing for more than a year, when in fact the right thing would have been for you to act immediately? ANSWER Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question. I will take this opportunity to clarify a few points that have been made over the last few days. First, a review of operational responses to significant incidents is a standard procedure, as Tasmania Police is an agency that strives for continuous improvement in delivering policing services to Tasmania. It is important to learn lessons from operations or incidents to inform future responses and improve practices and procedures for the future. I am informed by the Commissioner of Police that that is the case in relationship to this matter. Tasmania Police have established a management review which is examining all aspects of the investigation into the former nurse at the LGH. I have spoken to the Commissioner and requested the management review be completed as a matter of urgency. I am assured that if there are lessons to be learnt they will be implemented immediately. I expect to receive preliminary advice by the end of the year. Opposition members interjecting. Madam SPEAKER - Order please. Mr SHELTON - The review will also be provided to assist the commission of inquiry. Wednesday 2 December 2020 1 Let me explain. In late August 2019 when I was first alerted, this matter was an active Tasmania Police investigation and Mr Griffin had already had his working with children and vulnerable persons registration suspended. I note that this screening and registration process is administered independently by the Department of Justice and not Tasmania Police. The Attorney-General provided comprehensive detail on the process surrounding the cancellation and termination of Working with Children and Vulnerable Persons registration yesterday. The briefing I received was confidential. I was not advised of Mr Griffin's full occupational history. At that time, relevant agencies including Justice, Communities Tasmania and the Department of Health had been informed and Mr Griffin had been suspended from his employment. On 3 September 2019 and again on 3 October, as part of an ongoing investigation, Tasmania Police charged the former nurse with sexual crimes relating to separate complaints. On 18 October 2019, he died by suicide. It is only as the processes of investigation have progressed, including since his death, that broader details associated with Mr Griffin have come to light. Dr Woodruff - After a podcast. Madam SPEAKER - Order, please. Mr SHELTON - I am advised that the criminal investigation ceased upon his death. However, investigations into the matter continue. First, it became a matter before the Coroner and second, investigative work, including to support the LGH regarding liaison with known and potential victims. The Coroner's findings into the death of Mr Griffin were dated 18 May 2020. I am advised that on that date, the findings were provided to the senior next of kin and to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. I am further advised that several weeks later, interested parties were provided with a copy of the findings in accordance with the standard procedure of the Coronial Division. I am also advised that, as is usual with deaths that are found to be suicide, the findings were not published on the Magistrate's website at that time. However, due to extensive public interest in the matter over subsequent weeks and months, the Coroner decided that it was appropriate to publish the findings and he did so on 23 October 2020. Further to the police and coronial investigations on 14 October this year, there was media reporting with extensive details of further disturbing allegations relating to the former nurse. On the basis of the new and emerging allegations in the media on 14 October 2020, the Minister for Health requested that the secretary of the Department of Health undertake a review. Following the commencement of the department's review, further information came to light from the public. The Premier announced a full independent investigation into the matter on 22 October 2020. As we know, following being briefed on the further historical allegations of child sex abuse, the Premier announced the Commission of Inquiry on Monday, 23 November this year. Wednesday 2 December 2020 2 It is completely irresponsible to suggest that the minister for Police should interfere in matters that are still subject to serious ongoing investigations by police, or to be interfering in matters that are the responsibility of other government departments, especially where those government departments are already aware of relevant matters. There is no more important task for the Government than to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our children. While we cannot change the past, we are committed to our Government making a difference in the future, through the commission of inquiry. As the Premier has said, no stone will be left unturned - Ms O'Byrne - They were left unturned. They were left unturned until you were dragged kicking and screaming to this point. Madam SPEAKER - Ms O'Byrne, you will get your chance. Mr SHELTON - as we deliver on our commitment to make Tasmania safer. I encourage anyone who has any further information relating to the allegations of child sexual abuse to report those matters to Tasmania Police. Launceston General Hospital - Child Abuse Claims - Actions of Minister, Mr Shelton Ms WHITE question to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, Mr SHELTON [10.09 a.m.] The police investigation into James Griffin concluded with his death in October 2019. You have confirmed that. The Coroner handed down the findings into the death of Griffin on 18 May this year, well and truly ending formal investigations. Both of these facts are relevant to your conduct around this matter. Once the coronial inquiry was finalised, nine months after you were first informed of the allegations against Griffin, you still failed to act. What does it take for you to act? As Police minister, an important part of your role is to protect Tasmanians, particularly in light of the Coroner's report, which did lay bare Griffin's offending. On receipt of the Coroner's report, why did you not at that stage raise the alert and inform your ministerial colleagues so investigations might finally be widened to identify survivors of Griffin's offending? ANSWER Madam Speaker, I will reiterate the point that when I was advised the former nurse had had his working with vulnerable children certificate removed, he had been stood down from his employment and so, from my perspective, the immediate danger to the children at the LGH was overcome. He was removed from his workplace. Ms WHITE - Point of order, it does go to relevance. The question was why, when the Government received the Coroner's report, particularly the minister for Police, he then did not share the findings of that with other relevant agencies and ministers? He did not go anywhere near the question. Wednesday 2 December 2020 3 Madam SPEAKER - He has finished his answer, so I cannot accept that as a point of order. Ashley Youth Detention Centre - Issues Ms O'CONNOR question to MINISTER for HUMAN SERVICES, Mr JAENSCH [10.11 a.m.] Since Estimates last week, the Greens have been contacted by people who work in or around Ashley. They are clear: your claim that Ashley is safe is not backed by the evidence. We have heard testimony that there is indeed a culture of abuse and cover-up at Ashley, that the problems are not just historical. There is the notorious Franklin unit, allegations of regular rough handling, and of regular periods of isolation, otherwise described as detainees being unit bound. As an example of what we are told, can you confirm one of the three staff members who was belatedly suspended from Ashley this year is the same person who was subject to the allegation of suspected rape in the 1990s, and that person, who held working with vulnerable people registration until his suspension, has in the past year undertaken strip searches of children? Can you also confirm that a policy recommended by the Commissioner for Children to provide modesty gowns for young people during strip searches is not being adhered to, and when Ashley staff notified WorkSafe that no modesty gowns were available, a senior manager asked them to withdraw the notice? We are hearing these disturbing stories from multiple sources.

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