Annastacia Palaszczuk goes back on her word and now WON’T release internal report into death of Mason Lee
• First Fentiman refuses to release report; Premier promises it will be released, and then backflips to keep report secret for months
• A little boy has died and the Premier and her Minister can’t decide what to do next
After an extraordinary 24 hours of bungling from the Palaszczuk Government, the LNP Opposition has again called for the Premier to release an internal report into the death of Caboolture toddler Mason Jet Lee.
Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said Annastacia Palaszczuk and her incompetent Child Safety Minister were clearly at odds over the release of a critical report that led to yesterday’s sacking of three officers and disciplinary action being taken against another nine at the Caboolture Child Safety Centre.
“Just yesterday Labor’s Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman refused to release this report despite it containing damning evidence of serious errors in judgement from child safety officers who were supposed to protect Mason,” Mr Nicholls said.
“Today the Premier contradicted her Minister and said the report would be released in January as part of the Vardon review into Queensland’s Child Safety system.
“Just hours later the Premier back flipped and said the report she promised to release, would now not be released.
“This government is all over the shop when it comes to the tragic death of this little boy.
“You’ve got to ask the question – are they even talking to one another? It’s just not good enough.”
Mr Nicholls said given the shocking circumstances surrounding Mason Lee’s death there was strong public interest in releasing the report so Queenslanders could understand what happened and be assured it would not be repeated.
“There is no legislative reason why this report can’t be released, and given the tragic circumstances and public despair the truth must come out, and it must come out now,” he said.
“Every second, every minute and every day counts when children’s lives are in danger, and Queenslanders shouldn’t have to wait months to learn what has happened.
“The Premier should stick to her word, do what she said she was going to do and force her incompetent minister to release this report – what is this government hiding?”