Editorial: Retelling Rachel Antonio’s story offers a chance at closure

EIGHTEEN years after the disappearance of 16-year-old Bowen schoolgirl Rachel Antonio, her parents are still hoping to move on from their nightmare.

Ian and Cheryl Antonio remain in emotional limbo 18 years after their daughter, Rachel, disappeared.

EVERY year, more than 5000 people are reported as missing in Queensland.

Thankfully, most of these cases are resolved quickly. Too many, though, remain unresolved years after a loved one has disappeared, fate unknown, leaving family and friends forever wondering exactly what transpired.

Sometimes, as was the case with Daniel Morcombe, there is eventually a resolution; a child killer brought to justice and a family who endured years of agony finally able to have some degree of closure.

In a perverse sense, even families dealing with tragic cases such as that of young Daniel – whose killer, Brett Cowan, was brought to justice more than a decade after the 13-year-old’s disappearance – have at least something to be thankful for, they have at least been able to bury their child’s remains, and to take some solace in seeing a brutal predator sentenced to life behind bars.

For so many other families though, the loss of a loved one, missing and presumed dead, remains unresolved, the bodies never recovered. The spectre of loss and unanswered questions stays with them every day of their lives.

This is the case for the family of Bowen schoolgirl Rachel Antonio, a vivacious 16-year-old who went to the movies on Anzac Day in 1998 and never returned.

Bowen schoolgirl Rachel Antonio, 16, went to the movies in 1998 and never returned.

Daniel Morcombe, whose killer was brought to justice more than a decade after the 13-year-old’s disappearance.

Rachel’s story, and that of a family forever damaged by her loss, has been one that The Courier-Mail has followed from the outset – through police investigations, trials, and then a conviction, followed later by the acquittal on appeal, of her accused killer, Robert Hytch.

Then came a coroner’s finding that Hytch had indeed killed the young woman and disposed of her body somewhere that is yet to be discovered.

Now another appeal is in train – this time against the coroner’s finding – while Rachel’s parents, Ian and Cheryl, still remain in emotional limbo 18 years after their daughter left, never to return home.

While we are a newspaper, one that has been relating the stories of Queensland for 170 years, there are now so many more ways to bring those stories to life than the printed word alone.

By seeing their son’s killer sentenced to life in prison, Bruce and Denise Morcombe have achieved a modicum of closure. Picture: Lachie Millard

That is why today, as we begin a special series on Rachel Antonio’s disappearance, her story and that of her family and her home town of Bowen comes to life, not only in the pages of your daily paper, but also through a podcast that features never-before-released material.

This includes the full brief of evidence that the coroner considered and agreed to release to The Courier-Mail for this series, including police interviews, new photographs, and excerpts from Rachel’s diary.

The series is the product of more than four months of investigation by our crime and courts editor, David Murray, and in part is a plea from the Antonio family for closure, to end what has been an 18-year nightmare.

It is also, sadly, the plight of so many other families in a similar position waiting desperately for answers of their own.

While questions remain, there can never truly be the sort of closure that allows the healing process to begin.

Episodes of Searching for Rachel Antonio will be released each Monday.

Follow the bold links to listen:

iPhone or iPad users search for “rachel antonio podcast” on iTunes — by clicking subscribe, each weekly episode will appear on your podcast app.

Android users can listen by following The Courier-Mail on Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/couriermail.

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The Government is marrying sound environmental credentials with an economic goal of maximising returns from what is the state’s greatest single tourism drawcard – the Great Barrier Reef.

GOOD GOVERNMENT BEGINS WITH POLICY CLARITY

FOR a government that claims to be all about creating jobs and attracting investment to Queensland, the Palaszczuk Government is sending out some very conflicting messages.

On the one hand you have a sensible and pragmatic push aimed at maximising the returns from – and in the process, safeguarding the environment of – the Great Barrier Reef.

As it stands, seven of every 10 Whitsunday Island resort operators are facing hefty fines for environmental breaches under Operation Hawkfish, with many of the resorts lying derelict.

State Environment Minister Steven Miles sensibly wants new or revamped Reef resorts to “leave no trace”. Picture: Steve Pohlner

State Environment Minister Steven Miles has warned owners of at least a dozen run-down resorts off the Queensland coast that they risk losing their leases if the “eyesores” are not fixed. He wants new or revamped resorts that “leave no trace” – to showcase eco-credentials as a model for future development on the Great Barrier Reef.

This is sensible policy that combines sound environmental credentials with an economic goal of maximising returns from what is the state’s greatest single tourism drawcard.

On the other hand, you have a government that displays an almost cavalier nonchalance about the legal sabotage being waged in the courts by some Green activists, in the process tying up billions of dollars of potential investment in the state.

Even though the existing appeals process for projects such as Adani’s Carmichael mine means a final green-light might take years after formal regulatory approval is given, the Government has no appetite for overhauling the process.

But surely any system more streamlined and less open-ended, while still allowing objectors their legal rights, is preferable to endless Green “lawfare”.

The Palaszczuk Government needs to realise it can’t have a bet each way on every piece of public policy, and it must actually decide whether it is indeed committed to driving investment and economic growth in this state.

Good management begins with clarity around overarching strategy, against which all policy responses can then be measured. The current piecemeal approach is not working.