Insensitive media coverage of the Cairns mass killing has served to compound the grief of relatives, a Torres Strait island community advocate has said.
Names of the dead were not usually released until final funeral arrangements are made and public notice given, Yodie Batzke said.
But mainstream media published photos and names of the eight dead children in print and on websites before police had been able to inform all relatives.
Only a day earlier, Batzke had called for “sensitivity, respect and breathing space” for relatives.
“Parents, grandparents, cousins, everyone that is related to these children are finding it even hard to speak about these children using their names in conversation, let alone to see it in the paper and seeing photos, images of the children,” she said.
“So this is how deep the hurt and sorrow is and to be quite honest I can’t even describe in words how they’re feeling.
“Allow them to grieve without the pain of worrying what is said over the media about their children and how they’re being referred to.”
The community was also wary that the media would use the children’s names to further sensationalise the events, Batzke said.
Senior police were also furious about the identification of the children, which brought a warning from the lead investigator regarding Queensland’s Child Protection Act at a media conference on Sunday.
Legal sources told Guardian Australia the act, which prevents the identification of children subject to criminal investigations, was usually invoked only when living children were affected.
The siblings of the dead children in this case, including the 20-year-old brother who found them, are adults.
But Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar signalled to reporters that authorities might look at whether the publication had run afoul of the act, which makes no mention of whether it applies to the living or the dead.
“The investigation is still ongoing. The investigation still relates to children. The Child Protection Act actually indicates nobody is entitled to release any information that’s going to identify the children,” Asnicar said.
“Now, I’m aware that’s occurred and some consideration’s going to be given to that from, I guess, powers higher than me.
“But can I impress upon you that that’s the situation. We have eight dead children. We are not supposed to be releasing information that’s going to identify them.”
