An independent MP has used parliamentary privilege to name the 22 current and former Tasmanian public servants the commission of inquiry into child sexual abuse may have levelled allegations of misconduct against.
Over nine weeks of hearings, the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings heard accounts of systems which failed to protect children, red flags that were missed, staff members who were not trained to recognise grooming or child sexual abuse, and important documents that were misplaced, “shredded” or even “misleading”.
But when it released its 3,000 page report in August, the commission made just one specific finding of misconduct — against former Launceston General Hospital medical director Peter Renshaw.
It did, however, mention that it had issued 30 Section 18 misconduct notices, which is an allegation of misconduct, to 22 people — without revealing who the other 21 were.
In the Tasmanian parliament on Tuesday, Independent MLC Meg Webb put forward the names of the 21 people she believes may have been issued the misconduct notices — based on information in the commission’s report.
“I must stress, I do not take this action lightly,” Ms Webb told parliament.
“I have had many sleepless nights since I first became aware over the last week of the matters I am about to raise.
“Due to being blocked by protracted legislative impediments and calculated legal wrangling on the part of the state, [the commission] was not able to finalise the apparently intended adverse findings and findings of misconduct.
“So, 21 people, against whom it would appear the commissioners wished or intended to make either findings of misconduct or adverse findings, are not explicitly listed in the body of the report – meaning they have not been fully or publicly held to account for their actions,” she told parliament.
But Ms Webb said on “closer reading of the report”, there were pieces of information that may point to the individuals who were issued the notices of misconduct or adverse findings.
Those pieces of information were in the notes section of the report. Where certain individuals were referenced as having provided “procedural fairness responses” to the commission.
Responses, that Ms Webb told parliament, were necessary when someone was issued a misconduct notice — and there were exactly 22 individuals, including Mr Renshaw, who provided procedural fairness responses.
“It may be that these individuals were recipients of the section 18 notices the commission stated were issued,” Ms Webb said.
She told the parliament those individuals who had provided procedural fairness responses included:
- The Solicitor-General of Tasmania
- The Commissioner for Children and Young People
- Custodial Inspector and Health Ombudsman Richard Connock
- Integrity Commission chief executive Michael Easton
- Former head of the then-Communities Department Michael Pervan
- Several former and current staff associated with the Ashley Youth Detention Centre and Launceston General Hospital
In addition to those individuals, Ms Webb said several Tasmanian government departments and statutory authorities and entities also had to give procedural fairness responses.
“This is an astonishing list, and, to my knowledge, despite being locatable in the notes sections of the report, the government is yet to acknowledge publicly whether these 22 individuals and 8 entities were subject to Section 18 misconduct notices,” she told parliament.
Ms Webb said the commission “made it clear” that because it had been blocked by “legislative impediments and calculated legal wrangling on the part of the state, it was not able to finalise the apparently intended adverse findings and findings of misconduct”.
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‘Grave and urgent concern’
Ms Webb told parliament, rightly or wrongly, “significant clouds” remained over the entities and individuals.
“This is of grave and urgent concern because the entities listed contain most of Tasmania’s key independent oversight watchdogs – and, separately, amongst the individuals listed are a number of the statutory office holders attached to them,” she said.
“It cannot be emphasised strongly enough, public confidence and trust in these entities and these office holders must be paramount.”
Outside parliament, Ms Webb said it was “only fair to those cited in the commission’s report as providing procedural fairness responses to have these question marks hanging over them fully and transparently resolved one way or another”.
“This is an intolerable situation for those Tasmanians who engaged with this commission of inquiry in good faith, oftentimes at great personal distress, with the expectation that it would provide genuine acknowledgement and accountability at all levels,” she told parliament.
“The report lays out catastrophic failures of both individuals and systems to adequately protect children in state institutions, and yet the state appears to have gone to great lengths to prevent the commission from making any findings of misconduct or adverse findings, especially against individuals.
“This concern must be transparently examined and tested – it cannot be swept under the already threadbare carpet.”
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