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]
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