{"id":9159,"date":"2026-05-11T09:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T09:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/9159\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T09:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T09:51:16","slug":"queenslands-beleaguered-dna-lab-clears-backlog-of-hundreds-of-sexual-assault-kits-director-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/9159\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland’s beleaguered DNA lab clears backlog of hundreds of sexual assault kits, director says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland’s beleaguered forensics lab could soon resume testing of rape kits, after it was forced to export to a US facility.<\/p>\n

Forensic Science Queensland’s (FSQ) $50 million two-year outsourcing strategy to American lab Bode Technology has processed a backlog of more than 600 sexual assault kits.<\/p>\n

The lab was the subject of two commissions of inquiry, over failures in testing and cultural issues which may have led to miscarriages of justice.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Investigations into Forensic Science Queensland found it was at a “point of critical failure”. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

FSQ director Mick Fuller said the US facility had been turning around test results within 60 days, but local testing would be significantly quicker.<\/p>\n

“The goal for me is to restart the sexual assault testing in probably July this year, which means that we could be turning around within 5 or 10 working days,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We never want another backlog with the sexual assault kits, and my guarantee is as long as the labs are standing, we won’t have a backlog again in that place.”<\/p>\n

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said it meant perpetrators would face swifter justice.<\/p>\n

\"Deb<\/p>\n

Deb Frecklington says 601 outstanding sexual assault testing kits have been cleared. (ABC News: Cameron Lang)<\/p>\n

“This means victims of sexual violence in particular can get answers sooner,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It means police can get their evidence to courts sooner. And importantly, it means offenders being brought before the courts much quicker.”<\/p>\n

A backlog of DNA samples from major crimes which went untested due to issues at the lab has fallen by about 70 per cent, dropping from 11,703 samples in November 2024 to 3,488 in May 2026.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hundreds of DNA samples were sent overseas amid an overhaul of Forensic Science Queensland. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Historic backlog will ‘take some time’<\/p>\n

Failures in how testing was conducted at the lab, as well as regular environmental contamination over a year, meant tens of thousands of historic DNA samples needed to be retested.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Former NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller was appointed as the director of Forensic Science Queensland last year. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)<\/p>\n

Mr Fuller said while progress had been made on reducing that backlog, a significant amount was outstanding.<\/p>\n

“It started at a number around 40,000, and it’s down to 20,000. I know that’s a big number,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s just not about grabbing a vial and retesting it. You really have to look at the continuity of all aspects of it, but we are reducing it.”<\/p>\n

“I’ll make a promise to all the victims in Queensland. We are getting through them, but it does take an enormous amount of time.”<\/p>\n

A 2025 report found cases in the magistrates’ court relying on DNA evidence were being delayed by up to three years.<\/p>\n

Mr Fuller was appointed in August to overhaul operations at the lab after former director Dr Linzi Wilson-Wilde, resigned following “contamination issues” being identified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland’s beleaguered forensics lab could soon resume testing of rape kits, after it was forced to export to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,10488,10489,10484,10483,10485,10486,10482,10491,10487,10490],"class_list":["post-9159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-backlog","tag-deb-frecklington","tag-dna","tag-dna-testing","tag-evidence","tag-forensic","tag-forensic-science-queensland","tag-forensics","tag-lab","tag-mick-fuller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}