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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-20 Daily Xml
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Jenkins, Mrs A.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:06): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General about the abduction and murder in Malaysia of Adelaide grandmother Anna Jenkins in 2017.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: As the Attorney-General and others in the chamber know, I have been advocating and supporting Mrs Jenkins' family in the pursuit of justice and answers for their beloved mother. That pursuit took another blow recently when a Malaysian High Court judge said the family should be 'grateful' to property developers who covered up the discovery of her body, reburied it and instructed workers not to say anything.

In a further insult, the judge declared that Mr Jenkins had no legal right to file the lawsuit and ordered him to pay the developers' legal costs of about $US8,000 before he can lodge an appeal, adding to the more than $600,000 the family has spent so far looking for justice. Despite this deplorable attitude shown to Mrs Jenkins' family by Malaysian authorities, both the federal and state governments are still doing little to assist them.

Frustratingly, four questions that I have previously asked the government on this important issue remain unanswered months after being asked, and today I have more. My questions to the Attorney are:

1. You revealed in this place earlier this month the current balance of the Victims of Crime Fund was an astonishing $207.9 million as of 31 January. Why cannot a minute portion of that be given to the Jenkins family to lighten their financial burden and allow them to continue their pursuit for justice?

2. Is the government similarly outraged and frustrated at the contempt shown by the Malaysian authorities to the family?

3. Is the government prepared to write to the Malaysian government voicing its continuing concerns over the handling of this matter?

4. Will the government now go to the State Coroner seeking an inquest in South Australia?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:08): I thank the honourable member for his questions. In relation to matters being handled by the Malaysian judicial system, it is a plain fact that we cannot interfere and force the Malaysian judicial system to take any particular steps. I have had the benefit of meeting with Greg and Jen Jenkins, the children of Anna Jenkins, and certainly I was left very impressed by the amount of effort and work that they have done in terms of finding out exactly what happened to their mother. Certainly we have, as a South Australian government, made representations, particularly during some of the coronial processes, to Malaysian authorities.

In particular, in relation to the other two questions—whether the State Coroner will investigate—I have certainly referred it to the State Coroner and that is, as it should be, a matter for the independent State Coroner to make a decision about whether to hold an inquest or not.

In relation to victims of crime, as I have previously told the honourable member and perhaps the parliament, I think it was in the middle of last year that either I or my department wrote to Greg and Jen inviting them to consider making an application, and I can inform the chamber that they have now, in January of this year, made that application through their solicitor—an application for victims of crime compensation, which, as it necessarily is, is being reviewed.

As I said, having personally met with Greg and Jen, I certainly have a great degree of sympathy for the situation, through no fault of their own, they have found themselves in.

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