High-profile victim of youth crime Russell Field to take on ALP’s Don Brown for Capalaba seat

With less than 80 days to go before the state election, the father of a man and wife killed by an out-of-control car has put his hand up to challenge a Labor stalwart for a prestigious bayside seat.

Russell Field, whose son was killed with by an out-of-control car in 2021, has put his hand up to run as an LNP candidate for the Labor-held seat of Capalaba, against sitting MP Don Brown, pictured right. Pictures: The Courier-Mail and Judith Kerr

The state election heat is being turned up in the bayside seat of Capalaba with high-profile father of a victim of crime, Russell Field, announcing he will stand for preselection for the LNP.

Mr Field has taken a vocal stand for victims of crime since his son Matthew, daughter-in-law Kate, and their unborn baby, Miles, were tragically killed by a repeat offender driving a stolen car while the couple was walking dogs in Alexandra Hills on Australia Day in 2021.

Matthew Field and his wife Kate died in the tragedy in 2021. Picture: The Courier-Mail

ALP stalwart Don Brown, an active member of the United Workers’ Union, was elected to the seat in 2015 and currently holds it with a comfortable margin of 9.8 per cent.

Mr Brown said he was not commenting on potential LNP candidates but stated that, with 79 days before the poll on October 26, he remained the only candidate.

Mr Field, who lives in Belmont and is a member of the vocal Voice for Victims group, is yet to be officially endorsed as the LNP candidate, but LNP sources have confirmed he has officially submitted his nomination.

The state seat of Capalaba is where the Matthew and his wife Kate died in 2021.

A previous LNP candidate, Bianca Kemp, has withdrawn to look after her ill daughter.

Mr Field, known for his advocacy for tougher youth crime laws, was unavailable for comment but is on record claiming Mr Brown had dismissed youth crime as a “media beat-up.”

He confronted then-Deputy Premier Stephen Miles outside Parliament House in August last year about the comments and said the government had not contacted his family after the deaths of his son and daughter-in-law.

Mr Brown is also on the record in 2022 for slamming the “insufficient” sentence handed to the teen who killed Kate and Matthew Field and urged the then Attorney-General to appeal the decision.

Former ALP member Callen Sorensen Karklis is running as the Greens candidate for Oodgeroo. Picture: Contributed

The campaign for the seat of Capalaba is likely to be hotly contested, given Mr Field’s high profile and personal tragedy.

The LNP is also fielding former Senator Amanda Stoker in the neighbouring seat of Oodgeroo, vacated by longstanding LNP MP Mark Robinson, who won the seat with a 4.48 per cent margin in 2020.

She will compete against Greens candidate Callen Sorensen Karklis, who resigned from the ALP in 2017 and now works for the Australian Taxation Office and lives locally.

The ALP is yet to declare a candidate for Oodgeroo but is backing sitting MP Kim Richards to run against the LNP’s Rebecca Young in the seat of Redlands, which is held by the ALP with a 3.9 per cent margin.

The state election is on Saturday, October 26.