Paper Petition

The petition of residents of the State of Queensland draws to the attention of the House the major need for a review of the
Department of Child Safety’s handling of the X family case (the family referred to in the article titled “Abuser in charge of
three more kids” in the Courier Mail on 17 February 2006). The Department has ignored affidavits from a former spouse
and adult children from three marriages showing that there is a pattern of the father using children to punish a wife who
leaves, and of his manipulating a previous false claim of sexual abuse against his first wife.

Your petitioners therefore request the House to order a review of the Department of Child Safety's handling of the X
children’s case. We, the undersigned, are convinced that the mother has not sexually or emotionally abused any of her
children nor is there any risk that she will do so. We ask that the review be undertaken by an external person but that he/she
be given access to all of the information on the Department’s file, including all affidavits and psychological reports, and that
the reviewer be required to interview current teachers and sufficient of the signers of this petition to understand the high
regard in which the mother is held in this community. We are appalled by the item in the Courier Mail on Friday 17 February
2006 and believe that it is time this matter is settled properly once and for all.