Firstly, I want to commend the work of the many passionate families in our region, including the Mills, Sanders and Staggard families, to highlight the impact that youth offences have had in regional communities like ours, and their strength to speak publicly on their own families’ experiences.
Having attended the anti-violence rally as a family with my wife and daughter, we saw the passion on display to work together towards positive ends, and hearing from parents across the board it was clear that ultimately everyone wanted what was best for both the kids and our community as a whole.
Violence has no place in our community, regardless of the age of the offender, victims deserve better, their families deserve better, and the young people committing these offences deserve to exist in a system that reinforces the choice between right and wrong that we are all taught growing up — so to ensure they can become healthy functioning members of our society.
Rowan Farren-Parnell,
Mooroopna
