Child Abuse Inquiry Faltering

The appointment of the new Co-Chair, Rex Wild QC, of the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Aboriginal Communities has been criticised by an advisor to the Chief Minister, Jane Lloyd.

"Jane Lloyd is right,” Opposition Leader Jodeen Carney said today.

"Mr Wild has, as Ms Lloyd said on the weekend, 'played a key role in a system that is now under scrutiny ... the system, as experienced, is flawed and needs reform. Mr Wild is not the appropriate choice'

"He is too close to the system that has clear failings.

"Moreover, there is now no real chance that the Inquiry will be able to report by December because Mr Wild is involved in the Murdoch Appeal which is set down for December and so his attention will definitely be elsewhere. This Inquiry's secretariat has not yet been established and it has been two months since the announcement.

"This threat to her time table will mean that the result won't be available until next year. Because January and February are normally when many Territorians are absent as well as those months being the months used by Central Australian Aboriginal groups for their 'business', it is unlikely that they will be able to achieve anything useful until March 2007.

"This Inquiry was always nothing more than a ploy to deflect attention from the poor performance of Clare Martin as the Territory's Indigenous Affairs Minister. Now even that has backfired.

"The sense of urgency has been lost and the people who are suffering have been let down by a Chief Minister whose caring façade is proving to be a very thin veneer.”

2006-08-08