Ms. Walker questions the Minister for Corrective Services regarding the lack of response to a rape victim's family concerning the release and subsequent breach of one of the offenders, referencing past inaction and Premier's lack of response. The Minister deflects, claiming insufficient notice.

AnsweredQoN 451Legislative Assembly
Asked
29 June 2006
Portfolio
Corrective Services

QuestionView source ↗

RAPISTS RELEASED ON PAROLE - MINISTER FOR JUSTICE
I refer to the case of a 74-year-old grandmother who was brutally raped by two teenagers, then aged 14 and 15, in her retirement village home in 2000 and the subsequent media furore when her concerns about their impending release in 2004 were ignored by the Supervised Release Review Board and the government. The front page article of The West Australian said of the then justice minister, when the current minister was parliamentary secretary, that Mrs Roberts has some explaining to do about the treatment of a rape victim and her family who appealed to the minister about the impending release on parole of the two offenders. It said that she should be made to show cause why she should not be sacked. (1) Can the minister explain why, after the release of one of the offenders in March this year, the then justice minister, the member for Ballajura, again failed to provide a response to a letter dated 26 April 2006 from the victim’s family seeking conditions of the offender’s release? (2) As the new Minister for Corrective Services, why has she also failed to respond to the letter, despite two telephone promises from her chief of staff, Simon Ward, that it is in the mail? (3) Does the minister know the reason that the Premier has failed to respond to the family’s letter of complaint against her, apart from a benign acknowledgment? (4) Why was the offender recently breached? Ms M.M. QUIRK

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the member for Nedlands for her probing question. It may surprise the member, but I do not commit the front page of The West Australian to memory. Without notice of that question I am not able to give an answer that the member for Nedlands will regard as satisfactory.
(1) Can the minister explain why, after the release of one of the offenders in March this year, the then justice minister, the member for Ballajura, again failed to provide a response to a letter dated 26 April 2006 from the victim’s family seeking conditions of the offender’s release? (2) As the new Minister for Corrective Services, why has she also failed to respond to the letter, despite two telephone promises from her chief of staff, Simon Ward, that it is in the mail? (3) Does the minister know the reason that the Premier has failed to respond to the family’s letter of complaint against her, apart from a benign acknowledgment? (4) Why was the offender recently breached? Ms M.M. QUIRK replied: I thank the member for Nedlands for her probing question. It may surprise the member, but I do not commit the front page of The West Australian to memory. Without notice of that question I am not able to give an answer that the member for Nedlands will regard as satisfactory.
(2) As the new Minister for Corrective Services, why has she also failed to respond to the letter, despite two telephone promises from her chief of staff, Simon Ward, that it is in the mail? (3) Does the minister know the reason that the Premier has failed to respond to the family’s letter of complaint against her, apart from a benign acknowledgment? (4) Why was the offender recently breached? Ms M.M. QUIRK replied: I thank the member for Nedlands for her probing question. It may surprise the member, but I do not commit the front page of The West Australian to memory. Without notice of that question I am not able to give an answer that the member for Nedlands will regard as satisfactory.
(3) Does the minister know the reason that the Premier has failed to respond to the family’s letter of complaint against her, apart from a benign acknowledgment? (4) Why was the offender recently breached? Ms M.M. QUIRK replied: I thank the member for Nedlands for her probing question. It may surprise the member, but I do not commit the front page of The West Australian to memory. Without notice of that question I am not able to give an answer that the member for Nedlands will regard as satisfactory.
(4) Why was the offender recently breached? Ms M.M. QUIRK replied: I thank the member for Nedlands for her probing question. It may surprise the member, but I do not commit the front page of The West Australian to memory. Without notice of that question I am not able to give an answer that the member for Nedlands will regard as satisfactory.
Ms M.M. QUIRK replied: I thank the member for Nedlands for her probing question. It may surprise the member, but I do not commit the front page of The West Australian to memory. Without notice of that question I am not able to give an answer that the member for Nedlands will regard as satisfactory.
I thank the member for Nedlands for her probing question. It may surprise the member, but I do not commit the front page of The West Australian to memory. Without notice of that question I am not able to give an answer that the member for Nedlands will regard as satisfactory.

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