Voice for Victims rally: Hundreds join call for government to do more to battle youth crime
Hundreds of youth crime victims have marched on Queensland parliament before meeting the Premier, as they call for more action.
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Premier Steven Miles has come outside parliament to speak to victims of crime as a Voice for Victims of rally ended outside the grounds on Tuesday.
The Premier was to meet with vocal advocacy group Voice for Victims following the rally, which was aimed to get the government to crack down on youth crime.
The rally attracted hundreds of people as the group called for early and ongoing support for victims, significant consequences for offenders and an overhaul of the juvenile corrections system.
Outside parliament organisers called out “Mr Premier can you hear us”, before Mr Miles stepped outside asking if there were any victims of crime wanting to speak to him.
Speaking to media in between a group of protesters Mr Miles said it was the first rally they have had since he was premier and he was outside talking to them.
“I’ve been the premier for about five months and (youth crime) has been a focus of mine that entire time,” he said.
“It’s taken that long to pull together this community safety plan as well as get the other contributing parts.
One of the members of the public the premier spoke to was Russell Field. Addressing media, he said it was important to hear from him:
“It’s not the first time I’ve met with a Queenslander who’s had an awful experience,” he said.
“ I’ll continue to do that. But I think it was important and powerful for me to hear first-hand from him, not just about his experience, but his experience of dealing with the government and government agencies.
“That’s something we’ve done a lot of work to do better on and it’s clear that we need to do more.”
Outside parliament, multiple victims of crime, attempted to chat to the Premier to tell him their story.
In an incredible confrontation with the Premier, youth crime victim, Leonie Mulheran, gave him a business card saying that was all she got when she asked for support.
Leonie Mulheran was on a work trip to Rockhampton when she was dragged from her car and put in a headlock last August.
Ms Mulheran confronted the premier outside parliament when he came to address the crowd.
“For all the victims when they go through trauma, this is all I got, from my government, from my country that I live in and want to feel safe in,” she said to the Premier.
“This is all I got, a business card, from the detective that helped me on that day.
“From the moment you hit the pavement whether it be a carjacking or an assault. Victims need more than a business card.
“I’m sorry this is not good enough for a government at this point.”
Ms Mulheran held the premier’s hand and gave him the business card and said “I want you to touch this.”
She said she wanted him to make change if he was re-elected and said “remember this card”.
And the premier responded with “I will”.
After the chat, Ms Mulheran, told the Courier Mail she was glad she got to speak to him and share his message.
“I was holding his hand he had no choice, but he did actually show that there was emotion there,” she said.
“But I guess it wasn’t actually really a message just for him. It was a message to everybody.
The rally was the third the group has organised in the past eight months and marks the one-year anniversary since the fatal Maryborough crash that killed Michale Chandler, Sheree Robertson and Kelsie Davies. A 13-year-old has been charged with two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle in the night and one count of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm while excessively speeding.
While the families could not attend the rally as they were in Maryborough, multiple sent statements to share the sentiment that they were being “let down” by the government.
Outside parliament member of Voice for Victims read out a statement on behalf of Ms Robertson’s family.
“A year has gone by and we have not heard from our government for any assistance,” the statement read.
“A few months after the accident Annastacia Palaszczuk, the previous premier, came to Harvey Bay to rename Fraser Island to K’gari.
“She never reached out to any of the families. How does that make us feel? It makes us feel like nothing we weren’t important enough to reach out
“It makes us feel sick and the government still letting us down in the justice system.
“With this court case being adjourned time and time again, youth crime continues to be out of control in Queensland Government, hear what we are saying please, this isn’t right. We need the system fixed now.”
The mother of Kelsie Davies, Susan Marcus, also had a statement read out on her behalf.
Many other victims were expected to speak including the daughter of Vyleen White – who was stabbed to death at an Ipswich shopping centre. After the march, key members of Voice for Victims were to meet with the Premier.
The father of Ryan Kimball – a 16-year-old who was killed by a teenage driver – Graham Kimball spoke in front of a crowd saying he had never been contacted by the government.
“It is true that [losing] a child is a parent’s worst nightmare and even worse, it was all because someone else’s actions,” he said.
“This current government, in my opinion has not done enough to prevent or ease the current youth crime crisis.
“We were never contacted or visited by any government agency to provide us with any information as to what support or counselling services were available to us.”
He said after nine months they got in touch with Victims Assists but it was “full of obscurity and red tape”.
“The support we found were from family friends, friends and members from this first victims group,” he said.
“Without them, I would be still suffering in silence along with my family and many others.
Voice for Victims advocate Lyndy Atkinson earlier said they would not hold back at the meeting.
“Queenslanders are just so enraged that youth crime is on a rinse and repeat. These kids are just untouchable.” she said.
“And we wouldn’t be marching if we didn’t have the court turnstile provided by the government legislation and my belief is so many more people would still be alive.
“We will certainly stand our ground and really let him know how these victims are hurting.”
Voice for Victims advocate Trudy Reading said the group wanted immediate financial and psychological support for victims and a liaison officer as soon as the crime is committed.
“One of the other key things that we would like to know from Premier Miles is how many new beds or cells they have built or created since they came into power in 2015,” Ms Reading said.
“And what their plan is in terms of where they’re going to house the juveniles when they are detaining them.
“But more importantly, will be the rehabilitation programs and what they’re going to commit to in those rehabilitation programs to make sure that we don’t just have a turnstile of these children going through the justice system.”
Ms Reading said because they were just months their plan was to ask not just the premier but the opposition and any other minor parties what their position on youth crime is and what they plan to do to fix it.
“I would like to see a tally board between now and the election of MPs saying what their position is and what their solutions are to fix it,” she said.
“And we’ll certainly do it via our Facebook page.”
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