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Contributed with thanks by the office of Member for Burdekin Dale Last
Queensland families deserve confidence that concerns about their children’s safety will be heard and acted on, Member for Burdekin Dale Last says, as he welcomes legislation establishing the Queensland Protection Commission.
“Protecting Queensland’s children and vulnerable people is one of government’s key responsibilities,” he said.
The legislation follows a review centred on the case of Ashley Paul Griffith, who committed more than 300 offences against children over a 20-year period.
According to Mr Last, the review identified five opportunities when Griffith could have been stopped, with gaps in information sharing and fragmented responsibilities causing confusion and delaying action.
“The reality is missing those opportunities resulted in real harm that will impact those children and their families for the rest of their lives,” he said.
The government has brought forward implementation of Queensland’s Reportable Conduct Scheme, which Mr Last described as a way to ensure concerning behaviour is reported, even when it appears minor or isolated.
“People who fail to disclose reportable conduct allegations or knowingly providing false information will be held accountable, and so they should because the community expects everyone to play their part.”
The government is also progressing an Intelligence Hub intended to bring together information from different agencies to help prevent offending.
For Mr Last, the goal is to ensure warning signs lead to action before a child is harmed.
“By being proactive the aim is to prevent abuse before it happens and give Queensland families the confidence that their children can safely achieve their full potential,” he said.
He said further changes remained an option if existing measures proved insufficient.
“We have significantly strengthened current protections and have a plan in place for improvements but, if more needs to be done, then we will do it to protect children and vulnerable Queenslanders from those who seek to prey on them.”
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