“An inquiry is urgently needed to understand how the Government decided on this figure. When Lindy Chamberlain was exonerated in 1994, she received $1.7 million [$1.3 million plus legal costs] for three years in prison.
“Kathleen Folbigg spent two decades in prison, yet for her wrongful imprisonment she has been offered $2 million.
“Kathleen Folbigg’s fight should be over. After being failed at her conviction and abused in prison, she is now being treated with contempt by the very system that should be making amends.”
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson, a member of the state’s upper house and the party’s justice spokesperson, said the figure was “a shocking and insulting offer from Labor Premier Chris Minns, to the woman who was failed in the most incomprehensible way by the state he leads”.
“I’m astounded at the lack of reason, financial accounting, reflection and empathy this offer represents,” Higginson said.
She said $2 million “barely covers what Kathleen could have earned on a full-time salary over 20 years”.
“Kathleen has not only lost 20 years of wages, she has lost her four children, her home and her employability. She has racked up legal costs fighting her wrongful conviction, she has lost her superannuation, and she has been the victim of one of the worst injustices in this state’s history – wrongful imprisonment,” Higginson said.
More to come.
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