Health minister knew of nurse's island rape
18.03.2008
QUEENSLAND Health Minister Stephen Robertson yesterday admitted he was told of the alleged rape of a nurse on Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait two days after it occurred but took no action until details of the attack were revealed in The Australian nearly a month later.
The 27-year-old nurse was attacked in her bed in quarters attached to the island's medical centre at 3am on February 5.
When she telephoned her director of nursing on Thursday Island at 7.30am that day, she was told to ``put it behind her and just get back to work''.
The nurse was also told she would not be flown off the island and had to arrange her own transport by open dinghy to Badu Island to be medically examined and receive treatment.
Her boyfriend then had to pay $800 to charter a plane to fly her to Thursday Island so she could return to Sydney.
At a press conference yesterday, Mr Robertson said he was told about the alleged rape on February 7, while he was attending a Labour caucus meeting.
But he took no action until the story appeared in The Australian on March 4, after which he called the victim and asked her to go through the story of the attack with him. He then asked her to ring his departmental northern area manager, Roxanne Ramsay, and repeat the account.
He ordered his office to pay the nurse her wages owed, as her pay had been cut off from February 5, the date of the attack.
The nurse had been told this was because she had made a workers' compensation claim for an injury at work and that any payment was up to WorkCover.
Mr Robertson said stopping her pay was ``a mistake''.
