Chris Walker: Former NRL star completes mammoth walk from FNQ to Gold Coast over 71 days
Despite being forced to postpone his finish date due to recent lockdowns NRL legend Chris Walker has finally managed to complete his walk from Cairns to Gold Coast, clocking up more than 1750kms in the name of charity. SEE THE PHOTOS >>>
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AN icy-cold beer at Burleigh Pavilion marked the unofficial end of former NRL star Chris Walker’s mammoth trek from Cairns to Gold Coast, clocking up almost 1800km over 71 days and raising more than $200,000 for charity.
Welcomed home to Kurrawa Park on Monday, Walker admitted the whole journey – which started on April 26 and involved him walking at least 30km per day – was still “surreal.”
“Last night I had a little bit of time to reflect and actually got on Google Maps on the satellite and looked at every road that I walked down,” he said. “It was sort of a little bit surreal today and bittersweet.”
Charities including Beyond Blue, RizeUp Australia, the Alcohol and Drug Foundation will share in the more than $200,000 raised – further boosted with a $10,000 contribution upon Walker shaving his beard upon completing the walk.
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“It’s going to change so many lives, people who give $2 to these organisations tend to say it’s not much, but it really does add up,” Walker said.
“To raise that much money and to be able to give those donations to those charities, we know that they’re going to spend them where they need to go.”
Walker was joined on a walk to Suncorp Stadium before State of Origin on June 27 by former world champion surfer Joel Parkinson and Logie winner Lincoln Lewis.
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It was just one of the many destinations Walker ticked off on his journey, stopping by both Townsville and Rockhampton to stock up on more runners after going through seven pairs.
Walker, who went through seven pairs of running shoes, said some days were more challenging than others.
“The hardest part of my day was waking up, the first two minutes, motivating myself to get up and do that walk is really a mindset you have to get into for 71 days,” he said.
“I had really bad sciatic nerve pain down the right side for about a month, but in the last five days a ligament on my left side started to go.”
Walker was forced to postpone his end date by three days amid southeast Queensland’s recent lockdown.
“Things got thrown out of whack, we knew that coming into Brisbane that might have been the case.
“I was glad that I got the walk over and done with because I was starting to fall apart,” he joked.
Despite finishing up at Broadbeach, Walker planned to continue on to his home at Currumbin – but only after making a quick pit stop for a well-deserved cold one.
May 30: Emotional moment that saw Coast lawyer make radical change
By Ann Wason Moore
AFTER years of horrific abuse, it was a landmark moment.
Sitting in the office of lawyer Carolyn Devries, the woman had summoned all her strength to take the first step in officially freeing herself from her violent marriage.
But as Carolyn looked at her new client – who was shaking, traumatised and in tears – she knew this was not the time to delve into the details of legalities.
Instead, she sat beside her, held her hand and assured her they would get through this together.
When that first emotional meeting was over, Carolyn sought guidance on how to handle the delicate balance of extracting the information necessary to move forward with the case without further traumatising her client.
She was told ‘When she cries give her a tissue and tell her to go away and come back when she’s pulled herself together’.
“That’s when I knew I had to leave. There had to be a way to do this differently.
“Meanwhile, I found out the client’s favourite tea and what she liked to read. Each time she came in I’d give her tea, a book and some space. Over time she told me everything we needed to know and I was able to get her the outcome she needed so that she was safe and could restart her life.”
And then it was time for Carolyn to restart her own.
Having watched another client miss the first visitation with his children in eight months, a visitation they had fought for and won, because he had to sell his car to pay the legal fees, Carolyn was determined to create a new way of practicing law.
And that’s exactly what New Way Lawyers is: Australia’s first non-profit law firm.
With offices in Brisbane and Burleigh Heads, New Way specialises in family, divorce and estate law with emphasis on helping victims of domestic violence break free without going broke.
“I always loved my work, I just hated the system,” says Carolyn.
“I felt like all the answers I could offer came with this massive dollar figure on them and it was breaking already damaged families. I couldn’t stand seeing people treated as commodities. It’s one thing when you’re dealing with conveyancing or property purchases, but another when it’s people’s personal lives.
“I really felt there had to be a different model to break this culture and I started to think about whether you could run a legal firm as a non-profit. My research found that it seemed possible, that legislation seemed to allow it, but no-one had ever tried.
“So I figured I would.
“Before we began, the only options were government-funded Legal Aid, which most people are not eligible for, and private law firms, which most people can’t afford. We filled that gap in between.
“We are fully registered and recognised as a charity but also fully registered as a law firm through the Queensland Law Society.
“Unlike a private law firm, we have no shareholders or partners. Our fees are solely to cover our operating costs, not to create profit, and are a third less than a normal firm.
“But we want to offer a service that’s as good if not better as what is offered privately, so we pay the market rate for our lawyers, rather than using volunteers. We need to offer continuity and experience when we’re dealing with kids and families. We aim for affordable excellence.”
After 12 years operating within that gap in the system, Carolyn says she’s sad to say that business has never been busier.
She said Covid not only saw an explosion in case numbers of domestic violence, divorce and separation, but also saw a reduction in community services.
Carolyn says New Way Law is in the midst of setting up a DV fund, sourced from donations and sponsorships, to fully fund at-need clients referred by DV organisations who can not afford even their reduced fees.
“We have had huge demand since Covid, but alongside that has been a contraction in government services like Legal Aid.
“Understandably, a lot of their face-to-face services had to shut down but a lot of clients had trouble accessing their phone services, so they had nothing.
“We tried to bridge that gap by setting up our Lunch with a Lawyer online service, where our lawyers were available to chat between noon and 1pm. What we discovered was a huge demand from DV cases, it was an opportunity for them to seek help that they never had before. It was a real eye-opener for us.
“We had women messaging saying they were locked in the bathroom trying to get legal advice because it was the only safe way they could do so – they couldn’t show up to an office or even speak audibly on a phone. It was a blessing in disguise that we were forced to set up this service as it was desperately needed.”
Carolyn says many people don’t realise how crucial a lawyer can be when escaping a violent family situation.
She says often they are the first port of call, even before police.“It’s not as common as you think that police file the protection orders on behalf of the victim.
“More often the application is completed privately by the individual – which is very difficult to do when they are feeling vulnerable and scared. That’s when they come to a lawyer and we can do it on their behalf. We can do it very quickly, accurately and affordably.
“We also make sure that there is a safety plan in practice, that they’re not just filing this and then thrust into danger. We work with DV groups so that we cover the legal side, they cover the practical side and we can get the client to a safe place.
“From there, we can work to resolve the substantive issues of parenting, property and finances … once you work that out, you have a situation where they can cease all contact with the violent partner and move on to their new life, safe and untraceable.”
Carolyn says as much as she advocates for change within the legal system, the system itself needs to change as well.
She says families are often forced to work through two court systems simultaneously, adding to their financial and emotional stress.
“My dream is to see more non-profit law firms to take up some of the burden. I really feel our government should advocate for this as well. Putting clients in the centre rather than shareholders or partners really takes away the vested interest that is hurting families.
“The Gold Coast for some reason is especially litigious. We see so many cases going through courts that really could and should have been resolved away from them. The only ones benefiting from that is the law firm itself.
“But the system needs some change as well. Currently, we too often have the really difficult situation where families are going through two parallel court situations at the same time: domestic violence proceedings go through the state court and family court proceedings for custody and property go through the federal court.
“The logical thing would be to bring domestic violence proceedings into the jurisdiction of the federal family court.
“It’s increasingly common that they are going through both at the same time and the strain from that is unbearable – people end up having to take unpaid leave which is a financial drain, not to mention the emotional toll on their health.
“It’s the kids who suffer as well. Right now we have a number of children of clients, as young as seven and eight years old, who are under a mental health plan and self-harming from the stress this is creating.
“This is not how the system should work. Our focus has to be on a fast and simple legal resolution because that’s what brings the ability to move forward with their lives.”
Carolyn says as rewarding as her work is, there are plenty of tough days at the office. She says dealing with domestic violence cases means ensuring the safety of her own lawyers as well.
“We have to make sure we are strong and look after ourselves, we have to be in that place of strength to look after others,” she says.
“Working within family law does have an element of risk as well. We have had a couple of situations where we had to call police and go into lockdown. It can be scary stuff.
“Through our training and experience we can recognise when these factors are present and we always have a safety plan for our clients and our team.
“It’s not an easy job but it is incredibly rewarding when you see a woman and children set free from horrible abuse. It’s what keeps me going on those days when my heart is breaking.”
Indeed, some days it’s Carolyn herself who is shaking, traumatised and in tears … but with a team full of lawyers whose hearts and heads are in the right place, she can pull herself back together – and get back to work.
September 5: Staggering increase in domestic violence cases
THE second wave is on its way.
And while it’s not COVID-19, it’s every bit as deadly.
The Domestic Violence Prevention Centre has reported a staggering 120 per cent increase in new cases of domestic violence on the Gold Coast since the pandemic began, and service operators are bracing for even more as restrictions restart while financial supports are withdrawn.
Centre CEO Rosemary O’Malley says even she is shocked by how many new women are now in the system seeking help.
Ms O’Malley says COVID has created a perfect storm of heightened stress and financial pressures, while lockdown and border closures mean there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
“I just pulled the data from the weeks before COVID really started in Australia and compared it with figures in mid-May and again in July when we came back to the office. The number of new clients we were working with has gone up 120 per cent from pre-COVID to July,” she says.
“And anecdotally at least, it feels like we’re on another surge right now. Even though JobSeeker has been extended for some, it’s at a lesser value for many and a number of other supports will be gone in just a few weeks. Women are getting frightened about their future.
“We don’t know why exactly all these new cases have presented, although we will be studying them, but we certainly have our theories.
“For many aggressors, COVID has been yet another tactic used for control. During lockdown, many women and children were locked in with the worst person. They had to reach out to get out.
“I think also the fact that children were at home for online learning meant that many mothers couldn’t stand to have their children see what really goes on, let alone for them to be in the firing line themselves.
“We had a lot of women tell us that homeschooling became yet another avenue for abuse. They were told how dumb and stupid they were and the kids were seeing this up close.
“This has been a really difficult time on so many levels and now it seems we’re building back up again. We keep waiting to get out the other side but the horizon keeps moving.”
Ms O’Malley says although the prevention centre managed to handle the increased workload, it signalled just how much more work there was to be done to address domestic violence.
She says recent media reports of DV cases highlight just how overwhelming the issue is.
Just this week, a Queensland court overturned a suspended jail sentence and conviction handed to a police officer who hacked into a confidential computer system and leaked the address of a domestic abuse victim to her violent former partner.
Senior Constable Neil Punchard pleaded guilty to nine counts of computer hacking last year and was initially sentenced to two months’ prison, wholly suspended.
On Tuesday, the Queensland District Court set aside those penalties, ordered Punchard to instead complete 140 hours of community service, and determined that no conviction be recorded.
The long-running case has been an embarrassment for the police service and exposed widespread problematic attitudes in police response to incidents of family violence.
Meanwhile, an ABC report this week aimed to “shine a light’’ on an under-discussed subject — men as the victims of domestic violence.
ABC News reports that over six months it contacted more than 30 professionals and agencies supporting domestic violence victims, many of whom declined to speak on the record or at all. Some said they simply did not work with men experiencing abuse and could not comment, while others refused to participate because of how politically sensitive the subject is.
But for Ms O’Malley, the lack of discussion around men as victims is not an issue of political sensitivity but of the overwhelming need to help women.
“It’s not about not wanting to talk about it. We absolutely should talk about it. But we have barely started talking about the issues surrounding women as the victims of domestic violence,” she says.
“There is only so much space in a newspaper, or time on the television, or funding that is available and we have to make sure that those resources are used where they are most needed, and the fact is that, by and large, women are the victims of violence.
“It’s like when people argue that ‘All Lives Matter’. Well yes, absolutely all lives matter. But which lives are most under attack? Black lives. It’s the same with domestic violence. We need to triage the effort and attention to where it is most needed. Should there be more to help men? Yes, yes, yes. It’s not just a matter of men being abused by women, but more so men being abused by other men. That might be within a same-sex relationship, or a male child or young adult being abused by an older male relative. Or an older male relative being abused by a younger.
“There is absolutely so much more to domestic violence than a man beating a woman. It’s financial abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, mental abuse; it’s male on male, and occasionally it may be woman on male.
“We would be open and keen to help men the way we help women, to offer the same type of case management to them in the court space to make sure they are getting all the supervision and referrals that they need. So many women tell us that nothing will change for them until it changes for him.”
“But given the resources we have, we just can’t ignore that most of the time, it is men abusing women. That’s where we have to prioritise our attention. And we also can’t ignore that, like in the case of the Queensland police officer, too often women do not feel that justice has been accomplished.
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“There is still more to be done to transform our legal system into a true justice system, especially in the area of domestic violence.”
Ms O’Malley says while the Gold Coast is too often the focus for incidents of domestic violence, it is also setting an international example when it comes to a successful response.
She says the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre is part of the Gold Coast Domestic Violence Integrated Response, which was named by the Council Of Australian Governments as the “gold standard’’ and is used to inform practice in Britain.
The GCDVIR focuses on both non-government and government agencies — including police, legal, housing and health — and works to provide interventions which are co-ordinated, appropriate and consistent within a justice-reform model.
Ms O’Malley says while COVID has been tough for families across the Coast, it has also proved the strength of the city’s integrated response system.
“Crisis shows where your weakness is, but also where your strengths are,” she says.
“COVID taught us a lot of great stuff.
“We were able to let go of some of our structures that had become shackles and worked far more flexibly.
“We transitioned to working from home so quickly and came back smoothly as well. I take my hat off to our staff. They were answering calls at all hours as demand rose.
“Every new case is a lot more work compared to someone who is already in the system, but we worked so smoothly, no one was left behind.
“We have the resources and flexibility to help every woman who needs it. After all, no one is taking holidays for the next little while. We don’t ever want anyone not to call.
“We handled the first wave so well, now we’re just bracing ourselves for the next.
“But that’s life working within domestic violence. It’s never over and it never ends.”
Originally published as Chris Walker: Former NRL star completes mammoth walk from FNQ to Gold Coast over 71 days
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