Report finds Ashley Paul Griffith could have been caught if Qld had acted
Queensland’s failure to implement a basic child protection scheme allowed a monster pedophile to abuse dozens more victims despite multiple red flags.
Australia’s most prolific pedophile would have been caught on five separate occasions by authorities if Queensland had a reportable conduct scheme in place, a scathing report has found.
A 10-month review by Queensland’s Child Death Review Board, which will be handed down on Monday, also found there were another 18 opportunities where concerns should have been flagged and could have led authorities to detect Ashley Paul Griffith’s crimes earlier.
THIS IS NOT A TIME FOR POLITICKING BUT FOR ACTION. READ TODAY’S EDITORIAL AND JOIN THE DISCUSSION
Griffith preyed on 65 children over the course of two decades. The missed red flags included two occasions in the same year in which he was reported for kissing little girls in his care.
The damning findings, seen by exclusively by The Courier-Mail, are key parts of the review that investigated whether dozens of recommendations from a 2017 federal royal commission – some of which the previous Labor state government failed to implement – could have prevented Griffith from committing heinous crimes.
Ordered by the Crisafulli government in January and led by Child Death Review Board chair Luke Twyford, the review delivered a damning conclusion. Had a reportable conduct scheme been in place earlier, following the 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Griffith’s actions may have been “disrupted”.
Premier David Crisafulli said the review uncovered “dark failures”.
“We promised to shine a light on the state’s broken child protection system and this review has uncovered dark failures,” he said.
“These findings will send a shiver down the spine of Queensland parents and we owe it to every family to make the system safer.”
Griffith, 46 and a former childcare worker, pleaded guilty last November to 307 offences including 28 counts of rape, 190 counts of indecently treating a child in his care, 67 counts of making child exploitation material and 15 counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child.
He offended across 11 childcare centres in Queensland, one in Italy and another in NSW. He was sentenced by a Queensland court to life in prison with a 27-year non-parole period.
A reportable conduct scheme’s legal framework requires organisations to report, investigate, and respond to allegations of child abuse.
NSW has had the scheme in place since 1999, Victoria 2017, Australian Capital Territory 2018 and Western Australia 2023. Queensland is one of the last jurisdictions to implement it.
In 2018, the then Labor government released its response to the royal commission, indicating that the establishment of a reportable conduct scheme was a priority for Queensland. But the scheme was never implemented, as noted in the review.
“There are at least three, and up to five events, on the offender timeline where a reportable conduct case should and would have been opened, reported to the Queensland Family and Child Commission, investigated and quality assured,” the report found.
The review went on to detail the five instances where Griffith might have been caught – the first being as early as 2018 and the latest being four months before his arrest in 2022.
The instances included early complaints from concerned parents about Griffith allegedly threatening to smack a child, “grabbing” another by the arm and concerns about his use of a camera.
In 2021, Griffith was allegedly seen standing behind a child, rubbing her shoulders before leaning down to give her a kiss on the head, but the complaint was managed internally by the childcare centre involved, according to the report.
The review then made a confronting observation: another centre that same year dealt with a complaint detailing Griffith allegedly kissing a five-year-old girl at rest time. This was reported to Queensland Police and the Early Childhood Regulatory Authority.
Another incident in 2022 saw a centre receive a report from a parent that their three-year-old daughter had disclosed that Griffith allegedly rubbed her private parts during rest time. QPS and ECRA were also notified on this occasion and four months later he was arrested.
Mr Twyford and the board concluded that in all five incidents, the organisations and police would have been legally required to disclose these complaints to the reportable conduct scheme if it existed. The report also questioned the timing behind an announcement by the former Labor government that they were seeking feedback on options to implement the scheme – which came nine days after Griffith’s case was made public on August 1, 2023.
The review board sought to understand the timing “in part to address potential cynicism” that the Growing Safe Organisation’s Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement “was released as a direct response to the offender’s case”.
The document was not provided to the board during it’s 10-month investigation on the basis that it was cabinet-in-confidence.
Just two days after a press conference about Griffith’s arrest, a Department of Justice brief also revealed Labor had considered whether a reportable conduct scheme would have made a difference.
However, the government did not pass changes to implement the scheme until June, 2024 – six years after it was recommended. It was not due to start until July 2027.
Attorney-General Deb Frecklington revealed in July the LNP government would bring forward the start date to 2026.
“We launched this review because Queenslanders deserve answers after the horrific crimes of Ashley Paul Griffith went unchecked … protecting children is non-negotiable,” Ms Frecklington said.
The full report, released on Monday, is expected to identify weaknesses in laws, policies, and procedures across early childhood education, police, and the Blue Card system.
During his interim findings released mid-year, Mr Twyford found early childhood centres prioritised their reputation, feared defamation and other legal battles, which may have deterred educators from reporting concerns, whichcame after consultation with Griffith’s victims, their parents, his colleagues, and experts.
In August a national Working With Children Check system was agreed upon to stop potential child abusers from working across jurisdictions.
It comes as new data revealed almost 60,000 child sex charges have been laid in Queensland in the past 10 years – more than 5700 a year.
More Coverage
Originally published as Report finds Ashley Paul Griffith could have been caught if Qld had acted
