Dr WOODRUFF - I've got a question to you, minister, but probably through the commissioner to Mr Higgins depending. It is around the Arch centres. I was contacted by a woman who has given me permission to use anonymised information. On 30 October, she contacted the Hobart arch centre. The only contact option available to her was through an online form. She requested through that process to speak with Tasmania Police to discuss making a statement. Unfortunately, she never received any contact from Tasmania Police either by phone or email. That was five weeks ago and she says it hurt her a lot. She wanted me to underscore how hard it was to make the step of going to a black box online and the deep concern and fear she has about who may have read her information and why they haven't responded. Do you think, commissioner, deputy commissioner, that this is a trauma-informed response?
Mr ELLIS - Dr Woodruff, can I first say how sorry I am to hear about that experience. Generally speaking, Arch has been a big step forward for Tasmania Police in the way that we support victims/survivors. I want to reiterate how important it is that victims/survivors know that when they come forward to whatever service they're choosing to use that they will be heard, that they will be supported-
Dr WOODRUFF - I'm giving you an instance where that hasn't happened.
Ms ADAMS - As I said at the beginning, we need to learn from our failings. This is a new specialised area where we are hoping to build the trust in victims. I am more than happy to take that feedback. We need the feedback. It's important that we get the lived experience and where we're not meeting an expectation of a victim that we're understanding where those failings are so we can close those gaps.
I'm more than happy to take that offline and come back to you personally in relation to it. We want the community to have confidence in the Arch centres so that they feel that they can come forward and will be heard.
Dr WOODRUFF - Thank you, that's important and I will. So, I've had it confirmed that the Arch centres don't have a protocol for responding as to when they will contact victims? It's not stipulated on the website about how long it will take to be responded to.
I want to hear your views. The commission of inquiry report made very important recommendations around people who are in detention having access to online services for an anonymous reporting. That is not what so many victims/survivors want. They do not want to talk to a faceless black box, especially when - and I've had it said to me - there's a history of abuse and maltreatment by police officers. They don't know who's going to answer and look at that email on the other end.
Can you confirm that a phone call will always be available for victims/survivors who want to make a complaint, and talk about the protocol?
Mr HIGGINS - Through you, minister, I certainly can. Firstly, on the website, there isn't just a portal, there are 24/7 phone numbers that are able to be contacted as well. An urgent one goes through to the radio room, and it'll be a specialist investigator who will then ultimately make that contact.
We'd absolutely like to follow up the example you've used. We want to provide better service than that. I understand you've made the commitment, commissioner, that we will be able to do that so we can rebuild t trust with that person.
The protocols that are there for contact. There are dedicated staff within there - not only police but Laurel House, SASS in the south here - to ensure that contact is actually made. The website has more than just a portal. There are options there for people and there are 24/7 contact numbers as well. The specialist investigators are on call after hours.
Dr WOODRUFF - They're across Tasmania, aren't they?
Mr HIGGINS - Yes.
Dr WOODRUFF - I know that you probably do, but understand the deep concerns about people in regions. They want to know who's going to answer the phone and where they're from, and whether it's going to go to a centralised number, and whether that information will be made available to other people in a police station. They might be making a complaint against a member of Tasmania Police.
I've had two people speak to me about needing to be able to make complaints to Tasmania Police, and they want to know that they want to be dealing with one person and their information won't be available across the service.
There is concern about that 24/7 number. It's not the Arch centre. They've been promised the Arch centre and that's not available so they want something like that out of hours that's ring-fenced and anonymous.
Ms ADAMS - We do have guidelines that are obviously are very clear in terms of how we are to manage victims who want to come forward after hours, as the deputy said. It may be we have a communication gap that we need to address. We made changes to our website and they were made earlier this week where we did an assessment across all jurisdictions, across Australia, to see that we were providing the right information that a victim/survivor may need. I think the commission of inquiry themselves has actually identified we need to be better in terms of the information that we provide on our website. That has been, as I said earlier this week, Monday or Tuesday, that we made a range of changes to the website. If that's not clear, then we need to make sure that it is clear.
Dr WOODRUFF - I'll follow up with those details.
Mr HIGGINS - We definitely need that feedback to be able to make those changes.
