Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin - Leader of the Greens) - Mr Speaker, I acknowledge the victims/survivors who are watching this broadcast or who will read our words in Hansard. We want you to take care and to know that the Tasmanian Greens are taking this matter very seriously. We are committed to following the commission of inquiry process through all the way into the future to make sure that the abuses uncovered can never happen again.
The commission of inquiry was called by the Tasmanian Liberals in good faith to shine light into the darkest spaces of Tasmanian life. Unfortunately, the culture of secrecy that allowed these atrocious acts to occur is yet to be addressed in society and the halls of power. Looking after victims/survivors is your responsibility, Premier. The Tasmanian Government called for the commission of inquiry, you will fund the support services, you will draft the legislation to make sure this can never happen again. Uncertainty and fear is rife among many victims/survivors and we fear that the secrecy and hiding of information will continue. This fear has been expressed by many victims/survivors publicly, and it is a fear they live with every day. We desperately hope that it does not exist in the Government's dealings with the commission of inquiry and the release of the report.
I also wish to recognise the great risks whistleblowers from within the State Service took to come forward and expose the abuse they had witnessed, and the cover ups and complicity of people in power in the public service. They resisted the culture of fear and secrecy, often to their own great personal detriment. We all owe you a great debt of gratitude.
There is a yearning among victims/survivors for justice and for consequences for abusers and people who have covered up abuse. So I am very concerned to read in your statement that the Governor may decide to omit parts of the report on the advice of the executive council, that is, Cabinet, if the public interest in its disclosure is outweighed by other considerations that the Cabinet considers would outweigh it. You say that the process is similar to processes for redacting sensitive information from reports of royal commissions and commissions of inquiry in other jurisdictions. I point you to the royal commission into Robodebt. The decisions about redactions in that report were properly made by the royal commission itself. They were not made by politicians. However you talk about it, if it is not the commission of inquiry itself that has chosen to have a sealed section of the report, there will be a widespread perception that redactions of the report have been made within a political space to sanitise the truth and avoid holding people to power.
We hope the Government's legal team will be taking advice from the commission of inquiry's legal team, working together about what is sensitive, what is potentially compromising to future legal actions. It is appropriate for the commission of inquiry's legal team to advise the Government and its legal team on the appropriate way of withholding information should it be the case that it might compromise some other legal consequences. We hope that you will carefully consider the implications of any redactions made to this report because it has profound consequences for you and your Government as we go into the future.
Unfortunately, the dealings of your Government to date have been defined by a lack of transparency and a spin on reality. Yesterday's attempt to redefine the term 'ambulance ramping' to save face is the most recent example. We will be watching and making sure that the voices of victim/survivors and whistleblowers are not in vain, that their courageous attempts to change the culture of power and secrecy which has meant that predators have continued to work with young people in institutions. This must change. Ultimately, history will judge you, Premier, and your Government for how this response rolls out in the days and weeks and months ahead. You know that Tasmanians are watching. You know that victims/survivors are watching. You know that whistleblowers are watching. We plead with you to work in good faith with the commission of inquiry and their legal team. We plead with you to table the report in full and at the first available opportunity. We plead with you to give every resource to all of the victims/survivors.
The commission of inquiry is their voice, and it is your responsibility to amplify it, to celebrate their courage and to make sure that our Tasmanian Government institutions are safe for all children into the future.
