More than 100,000 DNA samples may need re-testing as Queensland lab bungle worsens | Queensland

More than 100,000 samples may need to be re-tested after another DNA testing bungle was exposed at Queensland’s troubled forensic lab.

It may take three years to clear the backlog, prompting the Queensland government to look at legislation changes to extend the amount of time DNA samples can be held.

A second inquiry into the state-run lab has found an automated DNA extraction method used from 2007 to 2016 known as Project 13 was “fundamentally flawed”.

“It should never have occurred,” the health minister, Shannon Fentiman, said on Monday.

“It was never scientifically validated.

“The DNA lab really did away with scientifically sound methodology – they sacrificed that for speed.”

No individual was found to blame for implementing Project 13, Fentiman describing it as an “overall lack of governance”.

“There was a complete lack of accountability and scientific methodology – there was no quality assurance in place,” she said.

Retired federal court judge Dr Annabelle Bennett recently led the second inquiry that looked into Project 13.

Fentiman had called for the second review after whistleblower Kirsty Wright raised concerns that she claimed had not been addressed at the initial 2022 inquiry into the state-run lab.

“All of Dr Kirsty Wright’s concerns about Project 13 were valid,” Fentiman said.

Bennett found current DNA lab boss Dr Linzi Wilson-Wilde did not draw attention to Project 13’s deficiencies when she gave evidence at the first inquiry.

But she said Wilson-Wilde did not deliberately mislead the inquiry, noting she was making very good progress implementing recommendations from the initial probe and overhauling the lab’s culture.

Bennett made two recommendations – that all cases that used Project 13 testing be reviewed and that they also form part of the historical case review under way following the initial inquiry.

Fentiman on Monday said that meant up to 103,000 samples may need to be re-tested, which may take three years.

She said legislation amendments would be introduced next time parliament sits to extend the amount of time DNA samples can be held.

But Fentiman said she was very pleased with Bennett’s finding that there was no evidence the public should not have confidence in the lab.

Opposition leader, David Crisafulli, said the inquiry findings undermined the foundations of Queensland’s justice system.

“Any response today should have put victims front and centre, but instead we saw a government more interested in telling Queenslanders to ‘move on’,” he said.

The earlier 2022 inquiry, headed by Walter Sofronoff KC over four months, found many DNA samples went untested and the lab incorrectly ruled others “insufficient”.

The scientist in charge of the lab at the time – Cathie Allen – was sacked in May after the first inquiry found thousands of criminal cases had been compromised.

After a police review, it was revealed 37,000 cases dating back to 2007 were affected by the DNA testing bungle.