State scrambles to help gambling giant as Qld police face lengthy waits for rape kit testing

What a sad and sorry state we have become when the cries for help from alleged rape victims are ignored while the pleas of gambling bosses for taxpayer dollars are welcomed, writes Mike O’Connor.

What a sad and sorry state we have become when the cries for help from alleged rape victims are ignored while the pleas of gambling bosses for taxpayer dollars are welcomed.

Star casino, hailed to be the jewel in city’s tourism crown, has been in the news following its less than grand opening but for all the wrong reasons.

International retailers representing prestige brands have walked away from a $600 million deal to open in the complex, promised restaurants and bars have failed to materialise and the hotel has only opened partially as Star executives try desperately to find a way to tunnel their way out of the mountain of debt burdening the company.

Riding to the rescue down George Street came those dynamic caped crusaders Premier Steven Miles and Treasurer Cameron Dick with offers to look at cutting a deal on the hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes due to the government, a handout by another name.

Premier Steven Miles and Treasurer Cameron Dick. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

In the same week Premier Miles said that his government would not commit more money towards fast-tracking DNA results from the backlog of more than 1000 rape kits sitting in the Queensland’s government’s forensics laboratory.

While the Premier and the Treasurer were discussing how they could help save Star’s corporate hide from the debtors that are circling it and from the consequences of its own poor governance and executive ineptitude, Queensland police said they were still waiting on the results from 1058 rape kits. Of these, 420 were submitted for testing more than a year ago.

It beggars belief that as of this moment, there are hundreds of victims of alleged sexual assaults who 12 months later are still waiting for the results of forensic testing from their alleged attacks and that the government has no interest in spending the money necessary to remedy this disgraceful state of affairs while considering handing millions of dollars to a casino.

When asked if he had called for a briefing on the backlog, Mr Miles said that he had not.

What he has said is that the government was undertaking a recruitment campaign and would explore outsourcing samples to other labs but refused to commit any further funding to this debacle which has unfolded under Labor’s watch.

It is now two years since a commission of inquiry revealed that the laboratory suffered chronic systemic issues and had failed to operate effectively for years.

Following the release of the commission’s damning report, the Palaszczuk-Miles government gave an assurance that it would do whatever it took to rebuild the public’s trust in its forensic services.

Domestic violence is atop the political agenda with the Albanese government announcing a $4 billion program to combat it although a closer examination of this reveals that only $400 million of this is new funding with the rest a rehash of previously announced initiatives but hey, that’s politics Aussie-style.

Given this you might think that the Queensland government might pause for thought and consider that victims who allege that rape has been part of the domestic violence which they have suffered would be entitled to have confidence in the government’s forensic testing services.

The state government is considering a tax reprieve for the Star Entertainment Group in a bid to save jobs. Picture: John Gass

As it stands at the moment they cannot. Much has been made about protecting jobs at the casino. Our local wine bar closed its doors last week with the staff all laid off and no special handout for the proprietor.

Barely a week goes by without another building company going to the wall leaving a trail of debts and subcontractors out of pocket but there’s no handout for them.

At the mention of the possibility of a few thousand union member jobs being threatened at Star however, the government springs into action.

Opposition leader David Crisafulli should make it one of the central planks of his election platform that he will deal with the forensic backlog as one of his government’s highest priorities should he win office.

The government has had two years to fix this and its failed response is a stain on the state’s reputation.

Women’s Legal Service Queensland chief executive Nadia Bromley has said the testing delays would almost certainly cause some victims to withdraw their complaints before charges were laid, a situation she described as “heartbreaking.”

“I think people can only tolerate things for so long and having that sort of unending process, I think probably just continues the trauma,” she said.

She’s right. The women of Queensland deserve better.