Labor in the dark as Reef panel sinks

QUEENSLAND’S expert panel on the dive or snorkelling deaths of at least 20 tourists on the Great Barrier Reef has been disbanded – a fact the State Government did not know – in a flop branded a “national shame” by operators.

The Reef Death Review Panel was touted by the State Government as a key recommendation of a roundtable to protect the global reputation of the state’s $6.4 billion Reef tourism industry.

Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace was unaware the expert panel had been scuttled – because of dysfunction, understaffing and a backlog in the Queensland Coroners Court – until contacted by News Corp.

The Minister has ordered an inquiry and said she expected the nine-member panel would operate as mandated.

News Corp exclusively obtained an email by review panel chairman, former Northern Region coroner Kevin Priestly, who detailed his embarrassment at having to disband the panel in July last year because it was understaffed and overloaded with death cases.

“The office for Northern Region within the Coroners Court of Queensland has suffered persistent understaffing, lack of continuity of staff and when key members are ill, the positions are not backfilled,’’ Mr Priestly wrote.

“I regret to advise that I am no longer able to convene the panel.

“I am no longer able to work effectively under the current arrangements.”

Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators chief Col McKenzie said it was a national embarrassment that scores of tourist deaths on the Reef in recent years could not be reviewed properly.