05 September 2023

Mr GAFFNEY (Mersey) - Mr President, I would like to voice two corrections to the adjournment speech I made on Tuesday August 22. Because of the seriousness of the Sue Neill-Fraser case, I believe members of the public deserve to receive an updated accurate account of the circumstances.

As we know, minor draft changes can be made by the current Hansard process, prior to publication. However, because the transcript was already in the public domain, I take this opportunity to correct the record.

Firstly, in my speech dot point 8, regarding the missing forensic testing results of the blue towel, I stated:

… the Crown failed to disclose testing and examination results on this potentially important exhibit from 2009, 2019 and 2021.

Mr President, the failure to disclose occurred in 2009 and 2021, not 2019.

The second correction: in my speech I referred to details in letters forwarded to the Attorney General and also to members of parliament which raised the Barbara Zochling issue. In relation to Barbara Zochling, sadly now deceased, the jury was made aware that Zochling did not believe that the woman she saw was Sue Neill Fraser but it was only when Ms Zochling spoke to someone outside the courtroom that she identified the person as Bob's sister, Ann Sanchez. It became apparent that Zochling had seen Bob and Ann arguing; it was actually on 25 January 2009 and not on Australia Day as I mentioned in my adjournment speech. However, this information was never put before the jury.

I thank the members for their time.