PERTH CHILDREN'S
HOSPITAL — AISHWARYA ASWATH
667. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's
media announcement on 25 May stating that it would take 10 weeks for an inquiry
to report back on the tragic death of Aishwarya Aswath.
(1) Given it has
now been more than 20 weeks, when will we see the inquiry's report into
the tragic death of Aishwarya Aswath so that her family can get the answers
they are desperately waiting for?
(2) Is this yet
another example of the minister failing to deliver on his promises?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
(1)–(2) The answer to the question is no. The fact of the
matter is that we have been severely impacted by COVID-19 because it is important that when we do these
inquiries, we have experts from outside the jurisdiction so that they can come in
and provide an independent view of the circumstances and the situation that
they are inquiring into. It is a very careful process. As I have said in
this place before, it is not one that I am prepared to put any artificial
deadlines on. The advice I received at the time—I think the member mentioned 25 May—was that there was an
expectation that it would take around 25 weeks. However, the inquiry has
been significantly hampered by the fact that the travel arrangements we
anticipated to be undertaken by the inquirers were, obviously, severely
curtailed.
I can say that the inquiry is in its
final stages of completion and that we have had significant contact with the
family to make sure that they understand the delays. My understanding is that
they are comfortable with those delays and they understand the reasons for
them. We want to make sure that we work closely with them and, in particular, make sure that they have access to the
inquiry's findings before we make them public and they have the
opportunity to discuss the findings with the inquirers. I will not rush this
process. It is one that we are stepping
through very carefully, making sure that we provide an absolutely comprehensive
analysis of the situation, that everyone is provided due process and that
everyone feels heard. From that perspective, I will wait for it to conclude and
when it is delivered to me, we will be able to make that report public.