New data shows it's taken Queensland’s forensic lab close to 18 months to retest just two per cent of the more than 40,000 cases caught up in the DNA lab scandal. There are calls to shut down the lab at the centre of the disaster, but the government says that'd only further exacerbate delays.
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00:00 Close to 10,000 victims of major crimes could have had crucial DNA evidence missed by Queensland's
00:07 DNA lab.
00:09 It could mean that innocent people are in jail, murderers and rapists could be walking
00:14 the streets. It means that families may not have had the chance to bury loved ones.
00:19 For 15 years Queensland's forensic lab used an automated method which didn't harvest the
00:24 maximum amount of DNA from samples. The issue, which has been the subject of two enquiries,
00:30 brought into question the validity of findings in 41,000 major crime cases dating back to
00:36 2007.
00:38 This is one of the greatest failings in modern judiciary history in the world.
00:44 The Health Minister admits just 440 cases have been retested so far. That's only 2%
00:51 of the enormous backlog. Crucially, 23% of those have returned new DNA where there was
00:58 none before.
00:59 The lab's new manager is defending its progress.
01:02 We are currently prioritising active cases before the courts.
01:06 She says it will get faster going forward with recruitment and outsourcing well underway,
01:11 but she wouldn't commit to a time frame.
01:14 It's hard to put a figure on that number, to be honest.
01:17 Whistleblower Dr Kirsty Wright has called for the lab to be temporarily shut down and
01:22 the huge backlog to be outsourced. She says putting scientists under pressure increases
01:28 the risk of errors. And that's what got the lab into trouble in the first place.
01:34 But that call to shut down has been shut down by the government.
01:37 It doesn't make any sense to take the core laboratory and shut it down. How is that going
01:43 to help get through testing any quicker?
01:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]