SECOND INQUIRY INTO QUEENSLAND'S STATE-RUN FORENSIC LAB
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* Retired former Federal Court Judge Dr Annabelle Bennett SC spent six weeks looking at concerns about an automated DNA extraction method known as Project 13 used at the state-run forensic laboratory from 2007 to 2016
* The second inquiry was announced by Health Minister Shannon Fentiman after speaking to independent forensic scientist Dr Kirsty Wright, who complained that Project 13 concerns were not raised in the first inquiry into the lab's practices held in 2022
TIMELINE OF AN INQUIRY:
* Problems at the Queensland forensic lab first came to light following The Australian podcast series called Shandee's Story, which was an investigation into the 2013 death of Shandee Blackburn, aged 23
* June 2022 - Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announces a four-month commission of inquiry to examine all aspects and operations of the facility, headed by former Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff KC
* September 20, 2022 - An interim report into the lab finds serious shortfalls in failing to test samples under a certain DNA threshold, with thousands of criminal DNA samples to be retested as a result
* September 21 -Two senior lab staff are stood down
* September 26 - The inquiry's first day of public hearings hears changes to DNA threshold limits in 2018 were introduced to save time and money
* Subsequent hearings found the lab refused to test more than 21,000 evidence samples, including almost a third from murder and rape scenes
* October 18 - The lab's culture is described as "toxic" by a human resource expert at a hearing
* December 13 - Mr Sofronoff hands down his inquiry report, making 123 recommendations with thousands of serious criminal cases to be reviewed
* December 23 - Retired judges Mr Sofronoff and Julie Dick SC are named co-chairs of an advisory board to oversee recommendations
* May 25, 2023 - The scientist in charge of the state-run forensic lab - Cathie Allen - is sacked
* October 4 - Police review dating back to 2007 finds another 7000 cases have been impacted by the lab, taking total to 37,000
* October 5 - Ms Fentiman announces a fresh, six-week inquiry
* November 17 - Report into second inquiry presented to cabinet and made public
KEY FINDINGS AND ACTIONS
* Dr Bennett makes two recommendations - review all cases that used Project 13 testing from 2007 to 2016; and ensure they are part of the historical case review underway following the initial inquiry
* Project 13 was found to be "fundamentally flawed" and introduced without being scientifically validated, with the automated testing method yielding up to 92 per cent less DNA than the manual technique
* Up to 103,000 samples may need to be re-tested, a process that may take three years to complete
* No individual to blame for implementing Project 13 but there was "overall lack of governance"
* Current DNA lab boss Dr Linzi Wilson-Wilde was found to have not drawn attention to Project 13's deficiencies at the first inquiry but she did not mislead the review
* Dr Bennett says there is now no evidence the public should not have confidence in the state-run lab given the progress made under Dr Wilson-Wilde, who has been implementing recommendations from the initial review and overhauling the lab's culture
* The government will introduce legislation amendments to extend the amount of time DNA samples can be held
Australian Associated Press
