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.
Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said the inquiry will uncover “what went wrong, why it went wrong and how this will never happen again”.
At 46 years old, Ashley Paul Griffith was given a life sentence in November for committing numerous sex crimes against nearly 70 girls during his time employed in the childcare sector in Queensland.
He is appealing his life sentence.
Luke Twyford from the Queensland Family and Child Commission has been assigned by the state government to delve into the shortcomings of the system and carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the Blue Card program.
“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.
This examination aims to create a chronology of Griffith’s actions and pinpoint which regulations or procedures might have led to the early detection of his illegal behavior.
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.
