During a NSW Parliament hearing today, at approximately 11:55am, NSW Premier Chris Minns, announced on the live recording that Lily had been found alive. It appears the NSW Premier was handed a hand written note advising of the details. Before announcing the news, he turned to his colleagues to confirm it was true and confirmed information, to which all nodded and mumbled yes.
Within 30 minutes, the NSW Premier was again handed a handwritten note and interrupted the live recorded hearing to update on the devastating news that Lily’s body had unfortunately been found and she was in fact not alive.
THE ADF DEPLOYED
Yesterday, the Australian Defence Force was deployed to assist in the search for Lily. Nearly 100 Australian Defence Force personnel joined the search seven days after Lily disappeared. That raises a legitimate question, what threshold has to be reached before Defence assistance is requested in a search of this scale and could those additional resources have been brought in earlier?
During the live NSW parliament hearing there were discussions on whether a State Government run first response team should be coordinated to assist in situations like these. The NSW Premier suggested that the current operations from NSW Police as the first response team coordinators remains suitable.
THE NEWS NOBODY WAS HOPING FOR
It begs a bigger question, how was the NSW Premier able to provide an incorrect update on the matter. Who told the Premier she was alive? On what basis was that information considered confirmed? Who authorised it to be communicated to Lily's family? And how did information of this gravity make it all the way to the Premier of NSW without someone stopping and establishing the most basic fact of all: was Lily alive?
The Government regularly lectures Australians about the dangers of misinformation and the importance of trusting authoritative sources. Today demonstrated precisely why scrutiny cannot stop simply because information comes from an “official” source.
This wasn't an anonymous Facebook account. It wasn't an obscure website. The Premier of NSW sat inside Parliament and told the public that an 18-year-old missing woman had been found alive.
Within half an hour, he had to update that she was deceased.
The NSW Premier didn’t necessarily create false information. But Australians deserve to know who did, how it travelled through official channels, and why nobody stopped it before it reached the Premier's mouth.
Image credit: SES Wollondilly
