Calls for probe and reform

Sean Ford | The Advocate | 22 Feb 2023

MLC wants full investigation as whistleblower case settles

An MLC wants full investigation of the state’s “failures” in an “appalling” workers compensation case involving a youth detention whistleblower that is settling after three years.

The case of the former Ashley Youth Detention Centre worker known as Alysha led to MPs of several stripes and prominent lawyers lashing the Tasmanian government.

The government repeatedly said it could not intervene in the case, despite various lawyers saying it could.

Alysha on February 21 said she and the state government had settled the case.

“I hope my regrettable experience will serve as a platform for urgent reform in this space,” she said.

She said she hoped how the case proceeded would lead to urgent reforms of how state servants who revealed wrongdoing were treated.

Nelson independent MLC Meg Webb said: “Given the damage inflicted on Alysha by the state, how can we expect any other Tasmanian public servant to feel safe coming forward as whistleblowers?”

“A full investigation is needed into how the state so categorically failed to act as a model litigant, and those responsible for this appalling process must be held to account.

“As the whistleblower who exposed child abuse at Ashley Youth Detention Centre, Alysha deserved basic safety and thanks for her courage.

“Instead, the state has inflicted further trauma on her and shown an utter disregard for her wellbeing or that of her family.”

Alysha endured six psychological assessments as well as hospitalisations, and claimed the way the workers compensation case was run kept re-traumatising her needlessly.

Carriage of the case was shifted from the state solicitor-general’s office in its later stages, with independent lawyers appointed.

Alysha was a clinical practice consultant at the Ashley centre, at Deloraine.

She claimed abuse, including sexual abuse, of detainees was covered up and/or not properly dealt with.

She also said she was threatened, bullied and physically assaulted after she started raising concerns.

Alysha, who was on leave since early 2020, was a key witness during the Ashley hearings of the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings.

She spoke to then-premier Peter Gutwein about the centre shortly before his shock announcement the Ashley detention centre would be closed and replaced with a new model.

A government spokesperson said: “Our position has consistently been that workers compensation claims must be treated lawfully and fairly, free from any political interference.”

“Our government has and will always encourage any person who has been affected by abuse in any form to share their experiences.”

See more of Meg in the media.