Arabic version: ناجية من كوينزلاند تقول إن مكتب الوزيرة قيّد اتصالاتها

According to The Guardian, a member of Queensland minister Amanda Camm’s domestic violence working group was told she could no longer phone the minister’s offices after seeking a private meeting to raise concerns about the process. Camm had said the government would “give victims a voice” when the hand-picked group was announced.

The woman, identified as Cindy*, said Camm had promised to meet her privately after she repeatedly raised concerns that issues were not being taken seriously. She later met two ministerial staff members, but said Camm did not attend. Cindy said an adviser referred to the confidentiality agreement she had signed when she complained that the promised meeting had not occurred.

In an email, Camm’s chief of staff, Anna Hilton, said the office was introducing a “communication protocol” for Cindy. The email said that if she contacted the office by telephone, she would be reminded of the protocol and the call would be terminated. Hilton wrote that Cindy’s conduct during meetings was “not conducive to an ongoing dialogue”. Cindy denied inappropriate conduct and described the consultation process as a “sham”.

Other members told the newspaper they felt unable to publicly raise concerns because they had signed confidentiality agreements. The group’s summary report and recommendations, which were critical of police responses and called for reforms including independent oversight of police, were not published. Camm said participants had joined under the explicit understanding that the report would not be broadly published, while three members said they expected the summary report to be distributed more widely.