What, since his election as Chief Minister, has Senator Ian Gorst brought to the table in order to show the outside world that Jersey is not a secretive jurisdiction and is ready to tackle, and put right (as best he can) the wrongs committed by pedophiles and Child Abusers, on this island? Where is this on his, or the Council Of Minsters, priority list? Certainly not as high as the hijacking.
In the interview below with Deputy Montfort Tadier we discuss the continued secrecy, where it appears that Senator Gorst brings it to a new level surpassing his predecessor Terry Le Sueur. The Stake holders, as in the Jersey Care Leavers Association, current and former politicians, and others who have been campaigning for a robust, and fit for purpose, Committee of Enquiry were told they would be kept "in the loop" and consulted at the different stages....They haven't been! The very same secrecy that enabled the Child Abuse to flourish, on this island, for decades.
Chief Minster Gorst, and the Council of Ministers, have had hold of the suggested Terms of Reference for the Committee Of Enquiry, as suggested by Verita, since November 2011 and have not shared them with the rest of the parliament. Instead (in what could be described as a sneaky and underhanded move) Senator Gorst engaged Andrew Williamson to come up with another set of Terms of (P)Reference, which he has had hold of since August this year, we are told, and hasn't shared them with the rest of the States either. Instead the Chief Minister planned to give States Members the Williamson TOR's ONLY which were to be shared with Members the very same day (yesterday) as Andrew Williamson was going to give his presentation on them............With no Verita TOR's in sight! Why weren't Verita given the opportunity to present their TOR's to the States as Williamson was? Why if there was a problem with Verita's TOR's wasn't it sorted out with them? Why bring Williamson in at all? (the $million question)
This is/was all wholly unacceptable and Deputy Tadier warned the Chief Minister that unless he started showing "some clear leadership and common decency" that he could face, as the first item of business in the next States Sitting, "a vote of censure or worse."
There are no doubt a number of people who do not want this Committee of Enquiry into decades of Child Abuse to go ahead and in all honesty we don't believe Senator Gorst is one of them, he just needs to grow a pair of aggy's, start showing some LEADERSHIP, or face the consequences of a possible vote of confidence, that we are told, is already being drafted.
It's time to start doing the right thing, Chief Minister, for the Child Abuse Victims and Survivors including Jersey as a whole.
Jersey's Culture of Secrecy HAS to stop, question is, have you got the leadership qualities and common decency to stop it?