Queensland’s ‘inferior’ rape kits to be replaced in DNA testing

New rape kits are being rolled out in Queensland after revelations the health department was using ‘significantly inferior’ equipment when collecting vital DNA evidence from victims.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman tours the new Caboolture Satellite Hospital, Caboolture. Picture: Liam Kidston

New rape kits are being rolled out in Queensland after revelations the health department was using “significantly inferior” equipment to other states when collecting vital DNA evidence from victims.

In Queensland, rape kits used in invasive and often retraumatising medical examinations have wooden stems that could break inside victims, risk DNA contamination and contain about half the number of swabs required.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said new kits, with plastic stems, had been ordered and were due to arrive in the coming days.

The initial shipment will be used to train staff ahead of widespread operational use in July.

In June 2022, a women’s safety taskforce led by retired judge Margaret McMurdo, recommended Queensland cease using “inferior kits” and procure those used in NSW and Victoria “as a matter of urgency”.

“Not adhering to the highest standards with respect to DNA contamination risks inferior testing results or even miscarriages of justice,” the report found.

Ms McMurdo found rape victims did not have consistent access to care, with some forced to wait up to 12 hours in the clothes in which they were assaulted before a forensic examination.

“This compromises the health and safety of women and girls, and the quality of the evidence collected,” she found.

Retired Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff, who oversaw a royal ­commission-style inquiry into the health department’s DNA lab, made similar recommendations in December about procuring new rape kits.

Mr Sofronoff’s inquiry was sent “deeply concerning” photos by doctors of unused kits with foreign hairs already stuck underneath labels.

Ms Fentiman said all of the state’s 16 hospital and health services would be required to make sexual assault examinations available around-the-clock.

“We are committed to reforming Queensland’s forensic services and have made it clear that we must improve the way in which evidence is collected from survivors of sexual assault,” she said.

“The health and wellbeing of survivors who attend hospital is priority. Our responsibilities go beyond providing medical care – we need to assist them in seeking justice for the crimes against them.”

Ms Fentiman said new rape kits would make a huge difference in collecting evidence.

“Critically, updated procedures will ensure our hospitals are providing trauma-informed and culturally sensitive care and will remove unnecessary burdens on survivors during evidence gathering.”

Rollout of the new rape kits marks one of the first major recommendations to be fulfilled since Mr Sofronoff delivered his scathing DNA inquiry report in December.

Thousands of past cases impacted by the lab’s failure to test samples in serious criminal cases, such as murder and rapes, are being reviewed with a focus on “urgent cases that are the subject of imminent court proceedings”.

Recruitment is underway to fill leadership roles in the newly established Forensic Science Queensland, with South Australian DNA expert Natasha Mitchell recently appointed permanently as the lab’s Biology Manager.

The Australian Federal Police have agreed to conduct bone sample DNA analysis for Queensland, after contamination concerns were raised during the inquiry.

Queensland still does not provide YSTR-testing, a DNA profiling technique that detects tiny amounts of male DNA, even though it has been offered in other Australian jurisdictions for almost a decade.

Until YSTR-testing is available in the state, a lab in New Zealand has agreed to undertake testing on Queensland samples.