System failed 10yo rape victim, Bligh admits
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Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has acknowledged that the system failed a 10-year-old girl who was gang-raped by nine males in the Cape York Indigenous community of Aurukun.
Nine males pleaded guilty to the rape but escaped serving jail time.
Six boys were sentenced to 12-month probation orders, with no convictions recorded, while three others aged 17, 18 and 26 were given suspended sentences.
There are reports today that the girl was removed from a white foster family and sent home to the community where the attack occurred.
The report, in The Australian, says the girl was in foster care because she had previously been sexually abused.
The paper said she was returned to Aurukun and was then gang-raped.
The paper says social workers decided to remove the girl from her non-Indigenous foster family in Cairns because to keep her there would be tantamount to "another stolen generation".
Speaking to Channel Nine, Ms Bligh said an external review of the girl's case led to disciplinary action against a number of child safety officers.
"When all of this happened two years ago the Government at the time identified that child safety officers had failed to protect her and that their decision making was seriously flawed," she said.
"We had an external review of those decisions and the people involved were subject to dismissal and disciplinary action.
"The Government did not turn a blind eye to this and we certainly took it very, very seriously.
"This little girl I should say is currently in a foster care family, she is receiving medical and therapeutic assistance.
"I understand that this foster care family is not in her community, she's away from Aurukun."
Meanwhile, the Queensland Opposition has questioned the validity of the "kinship first" policy on the placement of Indigenous children in state care.
Opposition child safety spokeswoman Jan Stuckey says the policy of first placing Indigenous children with extended family might need to be reviewed.
"The priority is to put them with someone who is a member of kin," she said.
"Now the same isn't so for non-Indigenous children, so you have to really wonder if that policy is working as well as a broader one, where you would say who is the best person to care for this child."
Foster Care Queensland executive director Bryan Smith says safety must be the priority rather than the placement of a child within a culturally appropriate setting.
"I think that's a trial for all of us ... in terms of how we go about trying to ensure that children and young people remain in their culture, however we have a drastic shortage of Indigenous foster carers throughout the state," he said.
"I think there's areas where we don't get it right.
"I think we've got to work closer with Indigenous communities throughout the state to try and get it right."
An Australian judge has handed down sentences to nine males who have admitted rape of a 10-year-old girl, none of which involve incarceration. Six of the offenders, who were minors at the time of the crime were placed on probation. The other three aged 17, 18 and 26 were given suspended sentences.

In her ruling, Judge Sarah Bradley told them that the victim "was not forced and probably agreed to have sex with all of you".

"I hope that all of you realise that you must not have sex with young girls," she said. She further admonished the 26-year-old: "You should have known a lot better."

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was "disgusted and appalled" by the court's decision. "I am horrified by cases like this, involving sexual violence against women and children. My attitude is one of zero tolerance," he told reporters.

Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine said he is appealing and "I am not prepared to just write this off as an unusual one-off case. I do want to satisfy myself this is not part of a broader sentencing trend that reflects a lower standard of justice for those communities."

Both the victim and all of the defendants involved are from Australia's aboriginal population, which has played a major factor in the case.

At a conference in January, Judge Bradley said: "There are also times when a judge who has knowledge of a community, has information about the community view of the offending, the background to it and the full particulars of those involved may decide an alternative penalty is appropriate. Determining which category of case is before you can be problematic and can often only be done with input from the indigenous community itself."

Boni Robertson, an aboriginal activist, disagreed with the judge's decision. "There is nothing culturally, there is nothing morally, there is nothing socially and there is definitely nothing legally that would ever allow this sort of decision to be made," she said.