But one of the staff members,senior scientist Kylie Rika,believed these were dismissed in part because of a toxic culture in the lab and perception that management figures considered negative feedback a “nuisance”.
Two senior staff members have been stood down after a bungle at Queensland's forensics crime lab.
The details,from the first public hearing of a powerful commission of inquiry into the lab expected,follow an interim report last week.
Commissioner Walter Sofronoff KC’s report found that a 2018 change to lab processes for major crime cases about the ability to gain more detail from DNA samples.
Counsel assisting the inquiry,Michael Hodge KC,told the first day of a set of hearings expected to run throughout this week about an email from members of the Forensic and Scientific Services lab’s management group. The email raised concerns about the 2018 decision and the short time for consultation.
Counsel Assisting Michael Hodge KC during the first public hearing of the Commission of Inquiry into Forensic DNA Testing in Queensland on Monday.Supplied
Hodge said an internal report into the proposed changes to lift the threshold for automatically testing some samples in more detail had been circulated by team leader Justin Howes in January that year seeking feedback within 24 hours.
Two members of the management group,which usually signs off on all changes to be processed,wrote back,taking issue with the suggestion there was “minimal value” in continuing to test all samples to a higher level and urgency of consultation.
Three days later,a decision was made to change the report into a paper outlining options for the Queensland Police Service to consider,despite no sign-off from the management group as was standard practice,Hodge told the inquiry in his opening statement.
Hodge said this appeared to be a case where the usual process was “abandoned” and there was some “curiosity” about why this path was taken. But the eventual decision to proceed with the change involved a “trade off” for police between test turnaround times and the likelihood a valuable result.
Rika was called as the first witness on Monday and told the inquiry her perception of management response to feedback was that it was deemed a “nuisance” if it strayed from their agenda.
Commissioner Walter Sofronoff KC questions Forensic and Scientific Services senior scientist Kylie Rika during the hearing on Monday.Supplied
“That is because of my view,the culture of our lab at that time was quite toxic,” Rika said. She detailed one “traumatic” incident where a staff member slammed their fists on a table during a meeting and management “isolated” her and the other senior scientist after they raised issue with it.
The functioning and decision-making of FSS are among the issues for Sofronoff to consider,Hodge said,along with how and when the issues arose internally — including changes to revert the process this year — the wording of the statements,and whether the lab’s process was best practice.
On Monday,the inquiry heard that staff raised concern about the potential for the statements to cause useful DNA profiles to be missed on the day they were told of the change in 2018,and on multiple occasions after.
Hodge outlined an apparent lack of notice given to police officials overseeing that agency’s side of the forensic process when changes were made this year as details of the lab issues emerged.
He also clarified that an initial decision by health authorities in June expected to reinstate pre-2018 processes including concentrating samples before automatically testing them,,stemmed from inaccurate advice to acting director-general Shaun Drummond.
The advice from within the department,in which the lab operates,stated the preferred of the two options involved not concentrating the samples.
This was then clarified after a meeting between managing scientist Catherine Allen and department lawyers,in which she described an “unintended human error”.
Allen was among two senior staff members — along with Howes — reported to have been stood down by Drummond last week after the interim report,despite no findings being made against any individual.
Together union state secretary Alex Scott,whose organisation represents workers in the lab,has described the decision as a “media reaction” rather than addressing.
The Morning Edition newsletter is your guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights..