The Tasmanian Government is being urged to immediately commission an independent inquiry into a child prostitution case.
The Children’s Commissioner has described the case of a 12-year-old girl sold for sex as a “disaster’.
At the time she was under a care and protection order, making her a ward of the state.
The Premier, David Bartlett, says he will consider an independent investigation.
A 51-year-old Hobart man was jailed for 10 years jail for acting as a pimp for the girl, when she had sex with more than 100 men.
Mr Bartlett told parliament yesterday that an internal review was underway.
“It is not good enough. The review has already indicated a number of systemic issues with regards to case management and collaborative practice which the Department of Health and Human Services will need to respond to,” he said.
“It would be premature of me to request an independent review before considering the outcome of the internal departmental review. I certainly don’t rule it out.”
Tasmania’s Children’s Commissioner Paul Mason says there is no reason for the delay.
“An internal review can only ever be internal and it cannot satisfy really the Tasmanian people that they are being told what they need to know about what led to this disaster and whether it could have been prevented,” he said.
The Liberal Party has tabled a motion requesting the Government establish and fund the inquiry
,” she had added. (ANI)