Former Labor ministers grilled over delayed child protection scheme

Queensland’s former state Labor ministers have been accused by their successors of negligence and failures of duty after a damning report into the state’s worst childcare paedophile.

MPs returned to parliament on Tuesday, where the focus was on revelations that Ashley Paul Griffith could have been caught up to five times if the state had a mandatory reporting scheme.

LNP government frontbenchers repeatedly used ministerial statements and questions from backbench colleagues to attack the former Labor government’s failure to promptly implement a scheme recommended by the 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington in parliament earlier this year.Credit: Jamila Filippone

The scheme was eventually passed by the former government in June 2024 but will not begin until 2026.

Griffith was sentenced to life in prison over hundreds of charges of child abuse between 2003 and 2022 against almost 70 victims. He is appealing against his sentence.

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“While the former Labor government stalled and sat on their hands, children were preyed on by this monster,” Attorney-General Deb Frecklington told parliament.

“What we saw was a progression of negligent ministers, each incapable of bothering to deliver a scheme that has proven in other states to keep our children safe.”

Frecklington accused opposition figures Shannon Fentiman, Di Farmer, Leanne Linard and Steven Miles of failing to act.

Premier David Crisafulli said only the former Labor ministers could answer the question of why.

“Go out and face the music,” he said.

Ashley Paul Griffith was sentenced to life in prison over hundreds of charges of child abuse dating back to 2003.Credit: Artwork: Marija Ercegovac

Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm accused the former ministers of failing in their ministerial responsibilities.

Camm and Frecklington noted an element of the report in which the Child Death Review Board “sought to understand” why public consultation on the scheme was only launched nine days after Griffith’s arrest was announced in August 2023.

“This was in part to address potential cynicism that the [consultation] was released as a direct response to the offender’s case, rather than a matter of good policy development,” the report said.

“The board was keen to understand the relationship between advancements in child safeguarding legislation and critical incidents. Unfortunately, the documentation requested was not provided on the basis that it was cabinet-in-confidence.”

Frecklington told parliament: “What are they covering up?”

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, shadow treasurer Shannon Fentiman – an attorney-general in the former Labor government – defended her government’s actions.

“We began consultation on that very shortly after the recommendations were handed down,” Fentiman said, referring to earlier, more targeted, consultation with peak bodies.

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She said the fact that Griffith was allegedly able to offend in NSW despite that state’s reportable conduct scheme showed “why we need a national approach”.

Labor in turn used question time to grill Treasurer David Janetzki over consulting firm KPMG staff operating from the Workcover office on a new “proactive claims management approach”.

Janetzki was also asked why the promised Queensland Government Consulting Services was not tasked with the work.

He said the office had been set up and the promised “flattening” of consultant and contractor spending growth was under way.

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