DFAT answers 60 Minutes “kidnapping” accusation
60 Minutes made a compelling case against DFAT in its custody saga story, but the government says assistance was routine.
- Published by David Knox
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A 60 Minutes story on the high profile custody case between an Australian woman and her former Italian husband claimed the Australian Embassy knowingly assisted in an international kidnapping.
The report by Tara Brown shed new light on the circumstances of the case, by allowing Tommaso Vincenti to respond to the claims by Laura Garrett. The four children aged between 9 and 15, all identified by the story, were returned to Vincenti last month amid emotional scenes.
60 Minutes claims there was no evidence or investigation to indicate Vincenti had been violent to his children, as alleged by Laura Garrett.
But while Ministers and Ambassadors declined 60 Minutes invitations to appear, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has issued a statement responding to questions.
DFAT claimed it isn’t the role of consular officials to investigate legal matters or allegations, but to respond to requests for Australian citizens to access local support, and provide assistance for those seeking to return to Australia.
It says it explained the possible ramifications of taking the children out of the country without her former husband’s knowledge, but made enquiries about one-way tickets as part of a routine client request.
Sunday night’s story also went to air with footage of the children’s grandmother despite her trying to place an injunction on the story. She had claimed she was filmed without consent, but the grandmother sat off camera and interrupted Brown’s interview with Garrett on a number of occasions. 60 Minutes reported that the grandmother and Vincenti had a frosty relationship, involving a missing hire car and blackmail allegations played on a mobile phone.
In some of the more telling footage, Laura Garrett struggled to answer some of Brown’s questions.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs, sadly at the centre of it all are four children swept up in an international custody saga.
It’s unclear if any of the interview subjects were paid for their interviews by 60 Minutes.
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4 Responses
What a coincidence for 60 Minutes to have aired that story on White Ribbon Day , 25th November, the day marked all over the World as a campaign to end violence by men against women! That story exemplified a strong possibility that some of the domestic violence cases some men are accused of as having committed against their female partners are merely framed up for convenience; and the men suffer the consequencies!
Even in the earlier news reports, which did seem biased against the father, the grandmother came across as manipulative and what the courts would refer to as “an unreliable witness”.
Good piece of 60 minutes.
Interesting example of being in a difficult situation people can just make things way worse for themselves and everybody.
Very powerful story on 60 minutes last night. Great to see the other side of the story for once! Commercial News quickly painted the father as abusive (looking for drama) without properly questioning these allegations – only now has 60 minutes thoroughly refuted those claims.