A review has begun into how Ashley Paul Griffith – one of Australia’s worst paedophiles – was able to operate in childcare centres for so long.
His offending is at the centre of the Queensland government’s inquiry into child abuse, and what more should be done to stop it.
Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said the inquiry will uncover “what went wrong, why it went wrong and how this will never happen again”.
Ashley Paul Griffith, 46, was sentenced to life imprisonment in November over hundreds of sex offences against almost 70 girls while working in Queensland’s childcare industry.
He is appealing his life sentence.
The state government has appointed Luke Twyford from the Queensland Family and Child Commission to investigate failings within the system, and conduct a major review of the Blue Card system.
“The review is broad ranging, we will look at anything that will prevent, detect or better respond to incidents of child sexual abuse,” Twyford said.
The review will help to establish a timeline of Griffith’s conduct, and to determine what laws or policies could have helped identify his offending early.
It will also examine how the Blue Card system operated during that time, seek the views of victims and how they were impacted and identify the rates and nature of offending in the community.
“The terms of reference have been crafted to give us as broad a perspective as possible,” Twyford said.
The last review of this nature was in the wake of the murder of Logan girl Tiahleigh Palmer in 2015.
The attorney-general said not all recommendations from then have been enacted.
“There’s around 20 if not 30 of those 81 recommendations that were not completed by the former Labor government,” she said.
Opposition Leader Steven Miles said Labor was working on reforms before it was ousted.
“We had amendments to the Blue Card system before the parliament last year,” Miles said.
“The state government, the new government have abandoned those amendments and instead was determined to proceed with this review.”
While it’s designed to be a review of the system, the attorney-general did not rule out charges for anyone found to have breached their duty of care.
The inquiry should be completed by the end of the year.
