The former ACT government ignored advice to keep crowds away from the demolition of the Canberra Hospital site in 1997 during which a 12-year-old girl was killed.

A report tendered to cabinet by urban services minister Tony De Domenico in 1995 warned of the potential for protests against the demolition, and indicated there may be a possibility of flying debris.

Instead the government had encouraged up to 100,000 onlookers, and a local radio station had held a competition to see who would push the detonation button.
A feasibility study by Richard Glenn and Associates, which provided recommendations to cabinet on how and when the demolition could take place, had suggested publicity for the event be subject to a risk assessment, particularly in terms of security and policing.

"Serious consideration should be given to limiting the issue of information to a 'need to know basis', and carrying out the operation as quickly and quietly as possible," the study said.

The cabinet submission, dated August 1995, was made public yesterday under the Executive Documents Release Act 2001.

Twelve-year-old Katie Bender died on July 13, 1997, when a chunk of metal was blasted 400m across the lake and struck her in the head, killing her instantly. One other spectator was seriously injured and many reported near misses.

In the cabinet submission, the consultants had favored the implosion technique over the usual demolition techniques because the time scale "was minuscule compared with traditional methods", and was comparatively quieter.

But the study had also acknowledged that more consultation with emergency services would be needed because of the "unfamiliarity with the method, which is relatively new in Australia".

The study had said extra procedures for an implosion should include erecting protective barriers around buildings as a precaution against flying debris.

Cabinet approved funding of $8.125 million for the project in the 1995-96 budget, and adopted the implosion technique "to save one month of project time and to minimize disruption".

Following the 1997 tragedy, a protracted coronial inquest during 1998 cleared the then chief minister Kate Carnell of any direct responsibility for Katie Bender's death, however, the coroner was highly critical of government agencies for their handling and promotion of the event as a publicized spectacle.

Shot-firer Rod McCracken was charged with manslaughter and demolition contractor Tony Fenwick with being knowingly concerned with the same offence, but all charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence. In 2001 Mr. McCracken was fined $15,000 for breaching occupational health and safety laws. But it was not until January 2003, after years of legal wrangling and public condemnation, that the Bender family received compensation from the ACT Government, led by Jon Stanhope, for the death of their daughter.