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Filed under: Alcohol, Real Heroes Walk Away, Violence, Weekend Punch

24 comments

Senselessness, randomness, consequences.

In scenarios like these #heroeswalkaway. Photo: The Australian

In any discussion about alcohol-fuelled violence these three words stand out.

Within seconds of throwing a punch, everything is thrown into overdrive. Family connections change and people’s lives are transformed forever.

This week news.com.au launched Real Heroes Walk Away – a national campaign to raise awareness about the issue and help to stop the violence.

The community response has been overwhelming.

Among the thousands of comments supporting the cause there have been the individual stories of anger and heartbreak.

As an anonymous reader posted on Friday: “Like Thomas Kelly, my teenage son was also randomly attacked in an unprovoked assault (a while ago). He sustained serious injuries, requiring plastic surgery & now has a metal plate in his head for the rest of his life. After several years of what I could only describe as a nightmare, the perpetrator is still out on the streets, due to lack of sufficient evidence. This is the reality of the devastation these thugs leave in their wake, as they laugh & move onto their next victim, unaware or uncaring about the fact that an innocent victim & their family’s lives have been irreversibly changed forever by their violent, senseless actions. My heart breaks for Thomas Kelly’s family. The scale of their loss is incomprehensible. We will be forever grateful that our own son survived his ordeal & I am now determined & dedicated to doing what I can to help stop this violent scourge on our society. Since my own son’s assault, I have also learnt of similar unprovoked attacks on several friend’s teens, friends of friends teens & recently, one of our own staff members at work (all good, decent people). This is more than a disgrace. It is a bloody outrage! Something needs to be done - NOW!”

Ray Quinn, a social worker and manager of the Acquired Brain Injury Outreach Service, in Buranda Queensland is well aware of the stress and grief a random attack brings to those closest to the victim and to the wider community.

Mr Quinn told news.com.au families and friends feel frustrated they will never see their son or daughter develop. Children mourn the loss of a once able-bodied parent and medical professionals despair over the lack of funding to let them support the victims over a longer period.

It’s clear that cooperation is imperative. Some of the most common feedback this week called for governments and politicians to work together:

“How about a bit of leadership from government in implementing a universal ban on non-tempered glass at all venues? The last Qld State Government squibbed the issue. I’m sure that campaign donations from the Liquor Industry had nothing to do with it, so let’s re-visit the issue nationally.”

One week in and the high profile support for this campaign is already heartening.

High-profile Australians supporting the campaign include Prime Minister Julia Gillard, MasterChef’s Julie Goodwin, author Jessica Rudd, NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell, South Australian Premier Jay Wetherill, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, MP Kate Ellis, Paul Roos (founder of the Sydney Swans No Dickheads policy) and AFL star Nic Naitanui.

But there’s a long way to go yet. Show your support by clicking on the news.com.au campaign page, signing the online petition or sharing one of our stories on Facebook or Twitter.

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24 comments

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- nihonin says:
  
  07:39am | 28/07/12
  
  Looks like they’re all trying out for the new show on TV based on the boring as bat shit Australian movie, Priscilla, something, something, something.
  
  Reply
- Jason Helton says:
  
  08:40am | 28/07/12
  
  One of the major problems is the police service in relation to this problem. Its haphazard and police pick and choose who has been the victim of assault and lets perpetrators walk away all the time. I work in security in Newcastle home of the lockout and reduced pub hours. Its for another article but claiming you have reduced crime 20 % when you have reduced patronage by 50% isnt something to brag about. Anyway back to my point. Working in Newcastle I have seen many assaults. We have held the assailant and waited 45 minutes to an hour for the police to show up only to watch them tell the assailant to stop being a jerk and go home. No 550 dollar fine no arrest nothing. They seem to have the atitude if they didnt see it themselves then it cant be as bad as what we say. Unless theres a dead body on the street for them its too much paperwork for the police to care. I personally have been off work since January as the result of an attempted king hit at my work. I managed to avoid it and defended myself but totally detached my labrum requiring a full reconstruction and tenodesis. The police watched the video and since the attempted king hit wasnt on video just got to see me defending myself and decided they wanted to charge me instead. For me not to get charged the police forced me to sign a paper saying I was dropping my charges. I still have 6 months recovery while this guy is walking around free possibly causing many other injuries to patrons and security. He will probably have to kill someone before the police take notice. I have had at least a year of my working life taken away from me but thats to the police it doesnt count as an assault so they can say look how well out lockout is working. I wonder how many other people have been silenced by the police so their crime fighting figures look good. Police whine about not being treated as punching bags but they allow bouncers to be treated as such. Heroes walk away but heroes should also do the right thing if if sometimes it in inconvienent to them
  
  Reply
john says:

12:42pm | 28/07/12

always say, sometimes we need superman rather than police.
Fiddler says:

01:25pm | 28/07/12

maybe it has something to do with police being required to take into account all evidence and deciding if they should place a matter before the court. Laws are extremely complex. “Locking people up” is never as simple as anyone outside the legal fraternity thinks. If there were no independant witnesses and no cctv it is as simple as one persons word against another, try getting that proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Or look at it from the other perspective. Imagine someone who you used force on made a complaint to the police about you. It didn’t take place under CCTV. As a security guard who works at a licenced premise I imagine this happens quite a bit. Now imagine this person demanding you be charged. Charging someone is due to the nature of the courts more about what can be proven happened, than about what has happened. The legal notion of “better 100 guilty persons walk free than 1 innocent person be gaoled” exists and has always existed in our legal system. If you are frustrated by this, imagine how much the police are and hence have to make decisions about proceeding with charging someone who there is no real chance of convicting.

Sadly in the security industry there are some cowboys, who knowing where the CCTV blind spots are take advantage of this. Do you think there should be a legal precedent that police/courts should apply more weight to the word of a security officer over a member of the public?
Jason Helton says:

06:30pm | 28/07/12

Fiddler if someone complaned I bashed them at work away from CCTV I would expect them to check all evidence and if there were injuries I may have some explaining to do. Just like in my case away from CCTV I worked in front of the cameras for hours and then when I left camera range for 15 minutes to deal with this man I returned to CCTV vision with a totally detached and my bicep tendon was ruined requiring this surgery http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhiVHLOJpCY with 6 anchors which was accompanied by this surgery http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqTTb9n3J9A I told thepolice thisand the policeman told me if I thought a crime had been committed I should call a lawyer because he wasnt going to do anything about it. Makes the crime statistics look great my work doesnt get a black mark in the book for being a violent venue saves him paperwork and everyone is happy except for me who now has a permanent disability but is swept under the rug
- chuck says:
  
  09:34am | 28/07/12
  
  Yes I have noted that there is also an increase in violence from predominately newer migrants (see picture above in article) in areas where they are settled. In the outer suburb that I live in there is an obvious increase in testosterone and alcohol fuelled tension when around these people, mainly young blokes from war and feudal violence ridden countries.
  The police don’t seem to be allowed to refer to ethnic gangs in seeking help from the public for which there are numerous for issues that they are slow to respond to. And you have to feel sorry for some of the blue line who seem to have little success with having recalcitrants tried by the new breed of legal administrators. Welcome to the new Australia.
  
  Reply
simonfromLakemba says:

12:38pm | 28/07/12

Yes and white guys never fight, see picture above.
tubs666 says:

02:21pm | 28/07/12

I thought they were from the US Navy and having shore leave ?
P. Walker says:

02:22pm | 28/07/12

@Chuck, for this very reason I would fully support any government with the balls to reintroduce temporary protection visas. We won’t stop the so called refugees, we will never know what they are really like until this is applied. If these people commit a crime that has them before a court and are found guilty, then they would be rejected within that 5 years of TPV and deported, end of story. Perhaps their parents might control them a little more and have them on a tether. Most would not last a few months if they have the war torn streak still within them. As you say they are still living the feudal system of tribal behaviour. And they say WE are racists, sure!
Most new settlers are great people but we do need a system to weed out the future new mafia crime waves.
As for the soft cocks, yes we have criminals too, but we don’t need to import new crimes.
Sick of the Crap says:

10:54am | 29/07/12

That is not our experience Chuck we are attacked periodically as we are often in city at that magic hours of 0230am to 0430 am and all attacks so far are from outer suburb feral whites, we have noted an increase in violence over the past 2-3 years and have procedures we under take to reduce our exposure to King Hits and the like, We also note that when the police are increased through out the CBD attacks mostly disappear but some times we note the trouble causing types are displaced outward to the inner suburbs by the extra law enforcement in the CBD, we are in a position where we can defend ourselves and retaliate and do so with force when the opportunity arises, there is no way that I would allow any family member to be in the CBD over the weekend at that 0230 to 0430 am time on their own as unaccompanied it would be very likely you would be attacked ,
- P. Walker says:
  
  09:56am | 28/07/12
  
  I don’t know what the laws of various crimes are. So even if they had a 25 year sentence for whatever crime committed who is going to think twice? I have Googled NSW Knife Laws and it has come up under the Summary Offences Act 1988 but I know there was an Amendment put through by Fred Nile where these were increased.
  
  (In Public or Schools)
  Custody of a Knife - 20 points and/or 2 years imprisonment
  Wielding a Knife - 50 points and/or 2 years imprisonment
  
  What are “points”? Do we reach a “point” in time where we are locked up?
  
  If government has “laws” on crimes and in particular, knife and physical assault and our young offend, why is it not COMPULSARY to have these displayed in all schools, all youth centres and in all public places, transport etc for all to see?
  
  By not doing the above it appears all the work done in parliament is wasted. Kids need to know what the consequences are.
  
  As for the murderer who got 4 year sentence for killing another young man and if he has already served 2 years does this not mean that he did not get bail? If so, he must have been a risk to the public. So why just another 2 years. The deceased’s mother said that law was not judged on emotion and if so what about judging the eighteen years that was invested in this unfortunate victim by family, friends and schooling? Millions of dollars! And this lucky murderer gets just 4 years for wiping out the life of a young man for the lust of a killing?
  
  Something must be done to ensure criminals are “punished” and if the reason is because of precious dollars, then start looking at ways of reducing the costs, not the sentences. Let’s have the taxes pay for the officers salaries, yes, but make the prisoners earn their keep. Remove the gymnasiums; they should be for the officers wellbeing and strength, not the already pumped criminals.
  Government, all businesses must reduce costs, start with the running of goals!
  
  Reply
Jason Helton says:

11:05am | 28/07/12

I believe the points refer to penalty units which also are 110 dollars a
unit
- acotrel says:
  
  10:04am | 28/07/12
  
  We should treat the root cause and not the symptoms. - A sick society ?
  
  Reply
Fiddler says:

01:28pm | 28/07/12

yes, because removing every child from a family which is likely to have problematic children (say 10% of the population) is a much better solution. The governments job is to protect and manage the population, not tell them how to live. We already have too much intervention already.
- P. Walker says:
  
  10:06am | 28/07/12
  
  Jason, we know this happens all the time. Thanks for your story. Apathy has taken over in the Police Service; or is it back to Force, who knows. Just a meaningless word they chose.
  
  I had a mate who walked away from the then Police Service. As a new officer he had heard a call come in as a domestic that had spilled out on to the street. He was at the ready and the rest told him to sit down and wait till it was over, and proceeded to have a coffee then go after.
  
  The explanation was its easier to question people after the event, no involvement, if its a killing, then the courts can take over!!! I will say this was not under Scipione’s watch, but I expect it still happens.
  
  Reply
- Gregg says:
  
  10:25am | 28/07/12
  
  A Campaign!, sounds just great but for what exactly?
  Like law abiding citizens with never intention of being violent such as myself do not need any campaign and if Julia Gillard and some premiers are fair dinkum, when will the legislation be in parliaments for mandatory sentencing so people who seek to be violent are locked away in isolation in a very cold isolated location for a very long time.
  Bread and water on somewhere like MacQuarie Island would not cost taxpayers too much.
  
  On ACA last night they were tracking a big lump of a youngish woman who had bashed a middle aged woman who now has to pay all her own medical bills, a victims law now having been changed but how dopey are our legislative/justice systems that the change could not be made retrospective.
  Meanwhile the perpetrator does not give a shit and is allowed to be so.
  
  And then there are the overpass rock throwers and now laser users and how long before they start using those on drivers from overpasses.
  What do they get?, a slap on the wrist!
  Send them to MacQuarie Island too.
  If they cannot survive, it’ll be no great loss and be sending a message, that being the campaign we need.
  
  Reply
- Ricardo Jones says:
  
  10:59am | 28/07/12
  
  News.com.au need to stop getting AFL players and coaches involved in the campaign every game those blokes are throwing sneeky punches.
  
  Julia Gillard is supporting the campaign and has several times praised Barry Hall. He’s nothing but a thug that did exactly what she’s speaking against, a bit hypocritical of her perhaps?
  
  Reply
Mouse says:

12:58pm | 28/07/12

she probably doesn’t really know who Barry Hall is. :o)
- Leigh says:
  
  11:38am | 28/07/12
  
  One thing we should do, perhaps, is follow America in the election of judges who will bring down appropriate penalties, and think of victims and the people, unlike the politically appointed and useless bench-warmers we have now.
  
  The Communist government of China also appoints the judges it wants. Is what our politicians do any different?
  
  Reply
Kev says:

02:35pm | 28/07/12

Those in the legal system would argue that they would need to be above public or popular opinion and that you couldn’t run a justice system based on that.

Then again when we campaign for politicians to introduce new laws in various areas how is that any different?
Lachlan says:

12:55pm | 29/07/12

hmm, a link between “useless bench warmers” and appointment rather than popular election. That’s a stretch. Any Judge can only apply a punishment as the legislation allows and as precedent dictates. An elected judiciary cannot change that. Furthermore, the exorbitant cost of running one’s campaign would lead to a ‘richest candidate wins’ scenario. That cannot be in our best interests can it?

The answer lies more in the legislation and the penalties it imposes, a widening of police powers on the streets, greater surveillance in these drinking hubs and changing the culture of ‘the masses’. The biggest source of this violence is Australia’s bogan culture. Treat the source rather than responsive ‘band-aid’ solutions.
TheDishpan says:

01:27am | 30/07/12

Leigh,

I have an even better idea. Why don’t we just throw open the criminal justice system to market forces. Bugger the justice nonsense, procedural fairness, and pretty much anything else that has made the anglo-legal system one of the more effective tools of civilisation.

Here’s what I’m thinking. We remove the presumption of innocence. We set up a website with the names of guilty offenders and a summary of their offenses. Then we put something similar to the Facebook “like” button next to their name, only it’d be connected to a credit card number. Each time you “like” an offender you’ll credit an account. The funds in that account after, say, 30 days would constitute the pool of funds available to pay for punishment.

The awesome thing about this kind of system is that it simplifies the justice system in a way that readers of the Herald Sun might better understand, and those who really care about long sentences can pay for them, while the rest of us get on with our lives.
- P says:
  
  12:51pm | 28/07/12
  
  Great initiative.
  
  One question though. So far all the pictures I have seen have shown fights with a definite ethnic dimension.
  
  Does this create a danger of muddling or suborning the overall message?
  
  It’s presumably a conscious choice to show these pictures and not others.
  
  Reply
- Ben H says:
  
  03:18pm | 28/07/12
  
  Only a moron would condone the initiation of violence, whether physical abuse or emotional torture. That’s straightforward. What isn’t so obvious - apparently especially for mainstream journalists - is that all these campaigns ever do is treat and perpetuate the symptoms of a sick and disturbed society, and never come close to curing the disease.
  
  There are embedded sociological factors at play that are virtually entirely responsible for the sad, dark milieu of these times. The inequality, injustice, individualism, competitiveness, materialism, ignorance, hypocrisy, greed, frivolity, dependence, worship of the temporal and neglect of the spiritual, and the unconsciously programmed state of a degenerate society bereft of truth and love, are not organic products of evolution, and stand strategically in the way of real progress.
  
  To stop the violence and depravity, we have to address the underlying problems and change the manufactured ‘parameters’ that cause them, and stop thinking that punishing weak perpetrators who have themselves fallen victim to the times is going to make a difference. We need a complete shift in attitude and to become conscious of the cold calculation and manipulation responsible for the world being in such a state. We must reject the fabricated ‘norms’ and create a fair and decent society full of citizens that have little or no need to abuse themselves or others, and every reason to base their paradigms around love and compassion. There would be little motive for violence in a decent, fair and loving society.
  
  You can’t expect many to soar like eagles when turkeys run the show and perpetually clip our wings. Treating the symptoms only inflames tension, lines prisons, unleashes a pandemic, and keeps the population docile and ignorant of the bigger picture. The same ball keeps rolling; civilisation deteriorates and devolves at an exponential rate. It’s time for real change, not mere window dressing.
  
  Reply