LNP promises childcare inquiry following sickening Ashley Paul Griffith pedophile case
The Opposition has vowed to launch an independent childcare inquiry if its elected in October following the sentencing of notorious pedophile Ashley Griffith.
QLD Politics
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The Opposition will launch an independent childcare inquiry following the sentencing of notorious pedophile Ashley Griffith if it wins government in October.
A former childcare worker, Griffith last week spent three hours pleading guilty to 307 child sex offences committed in Queensland childcare centres over two decades.
The LNP says the horrific case was the catalyst for an overdue investigation into child protection system failures.
Under an LNP government, Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC) principal commissioner Luke Twyford will be given extraordinary powers under the Family and Child Commission Act 2014 to conduct an independent inquiry into child safety, with the report to be made public.
LNP spokesman for the office of Attorney-General Tim Nicholls said the review would look at prevention measures to restore parents’ confidence in the child safety system.
“A monster was able to carry out his heinous crimes within the current system and we must do everything in our power to fix the failures of that system,” he said.
The government is set to pass its Child Safe Organisations Bill and amended Working With Children Bill on Wednesday, addressing recommendations from the 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, 2017 Blue Card Review and Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce.
The laws will raise the legal threshold for child safety standards and introduce a reportable conduct scheme in Queensland, allowing the QFCC to independently investigate concerns raised about those working with children.
Child Safety Minister Charis Mullen said while the legislation had taken time, consultation had been extensive to get the laws right.
“The Commission will be able to assist more organisations and volunteer-based groups,” she said.
“We have been progressive and methodical in the reform.”
The blue card scheme will be also strengthened and streamlined, while also allowing kinship carers to be exempt from blue card requirements and instead be personally screened by child safety officers to help place vulnerable children in safe homes quickly.
The LNP will support both bills but Mr Nicholls criticised the government for taking too long to act.
“(The government) has missed a great number of opportunities, and who knows how many untold instances where children have not been protected and they ought to have been protected because of the lack of a reportable conduct scheme,” he said.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli on Tuesday said the LNP would not allow child safety failings to “disappear” and he would not rule out any legislative change required to “get justice”.
“I think of it from the viewpoint of those parents, many of whose cases weren’t even included and I imagine what that feels like,” he said.
“But I also think about it through the eyes of every parent who has to drop off their child at any daycare centre, and they will be second guessing themselves, and I want them to know that we intend to fix the system.”
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