00:00Family was told incorrectly that she was alive. How has this miscommunication happened?
00:05Okay, so just to put it in context, as I said earlier, the area is thick, dense terrain.
00:12We've got hundreds of searchers out there. They're carrying handheld communication devices,
00:18and as you can appreciate, we've all experienced it, sometimes the communication is a challenge.
00:25They've got clear instructions when they do have a find, and that can be as simple as an item of
00:32clothing,
00:32or in this case, the person we believe to be Lily. That was reported up.
00:39Now, part of the investigation, or part of this search process, should I say,
00:44is to keep Lily's mum and dad well informed of the progress of the search, and in fact,
00:50they spent a great deal of time down there with our command post, speaking with our inspector,
00:56and our family liaison officer. And that is a positive strategy that NSW Police has adopted,
01:04because they are part of the whole process.
01:07We've been keeping them up to date with identifications of items of clothing,
01:11and in this case, the discovery of the person that we believe to be Lily.
01:21After that initial report is made, whether it's an item of clothing, or in this case,
01:25the discovery of Lily, we of course get further information over time.
01:30And it has been a very, very short period of time, and in fact, between eight and ten minutes,
01:36that we're able to provide Lily's parents with the updated status.
01:41So can you confirm they were originally told she was alive?
01:45That will form part of the brief of evidence for the coroner,
01:48but I'm just putting everything in context of how we communicate with the family,
01:53and how we continually keep them up to date.
01:55Was there anything you can say about what the parents were told,
01:58to lead them to believe that the child was still alive?
02:01Listen, I think it would be fair to say that they were informed that the initial information
02:09that the searchers believed that she was alive, and that's what was communicated.
02:14But like I said, within eight to ten minutes, we were able to give them an update,
02:18which was a more accurate account of the discovery of the person we believed to be Lily.
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