Failure to act let children down, say party leaders

THIS IS A COMPLETE FAILURE OF AGENCIES TO TAKE SERIOUSLY THE VERY REAL AND HEARTBREAKING STORIES OF MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY … REBECCA WHITE

THE report into police handling of allegations against James Griffin was an indictment of a decade of failure by government agencies, Labor leader Rebecca White says.

The report was released by Tasmania Police on Friday, along with an apology from the Police Commissioner and Premier.

Ms White said the contents of the report were deeply troubling.

“This is a very disturbing report. What it does is expose the failures of government agencies to act on survivors’ concerns and allega- tions about historic child sexual abuse and current sexual abuse,” she said.

“This is a complete failure of agencies to take seriously the very real and heartbreaking stories of members of our community, children who’ve raised concerns about adults who should never have done these acts against children.

“The fact that the government has exposed that police knew about these crimes and did nothing to inform the workplace for months, or other places where this person worked or volunteered for such a long time, is such a failure for survivors and such a failure of the system to protect children.”

Greens

O’Connor leader said the

Cassy review raised many questions. “The review by Tasmania Police into the James Geoffrey Griffin investigation reveals a decade-long failure to properly investigate serious allegations and woeful communication between Tasmania Police, Child Safety and the Department of Justice,” she said. “The failures revealed in this review are breathtaking in their scope and potential human impact.

“The review confirms reports were made to police about Griffin’s behaviour in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015.

“Yet, in 2016 Griffin was given Working with Vulnerable People registration. How did this happen?

“It took 10 years from the first red flag being raised before he was stood down from the LGH.

“This will distress many Tasmanians, particularly survivors of sexual abuse.”

Ms O’Connor said the government needed to assure Tasmanians “this decade-long tragedy of errors will never, ever happen again”.