The Thomas Kelly petition
 

Those of you who, like me, are appalled by the level of drunken violence in Sydney (as well as many other places) might like to sign the petition started by Thomas Kelly's parents ( he died after being knocked to the ground in an unprovoked attack. Just one of a number of similar assaults).

Over 80k signatures at lunchtime

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-...share_petition

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

I will consider signing it, but there was something off-putting for me and that was the bit about "youth". If the victim is dead then obviously they were not able to defend themselves and I think whether they were 20, 30 or 40 should make no difference. I am not sure where they are coming from with that line.

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

strange only 75k now

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

Signed, but like you, I'm not sure the issue of 'youth' should be part of it.

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

I think there are flaws in what is being asked for and not just the youth condition :unsure:

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

I don't know what site you are looking at but when I saw it after reading about it in the SMH (about mid-day) there were 78857 signatures, ten minutes later after I'd signed there were 79513 and around 5pm 80487.

Lord knows why I noted the numbers, but I did :confused:

I take the comments on the wording, but at least someone is actually doing something and not just bending over for the hotel mafia.

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

I totally agree with the sentiment, it is out of control. I do wonder if a petition is going to do anything though as these online petitions have been shown to be pretty well useless. Its amazing to think someone can be sentenced to a derisory 4 years for killing someone especially when it will be closer to 2 years in reality. Something has to be done thats for sure.

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

I think the law already allows for someone convicted of manslaughter to be sentenced to up to 25yrs - although the average sentence seems to be 6 (source - http://www.criminallawyers.com.au/le...-in-australia/ ) - and the minimum can be no jail time.

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

That is the problem, it is the judges that seem totally out of touch with reality. That needs to change but how do you change the attitude of individuals?

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

I can't help thinking that some proper, distributed, high visibility policing would go a long way to reducing these instances. Having a mob of 20-30 cops all roaming around together is no way to police public order. Break them up into teams of 2-3, distributing them across the area will have a much greater impact.


S

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

116,239 @ 20.53 7th January.

It only takes 30 seconds...........

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

I agree. If you believed the cops and Today Tonight/Daily Mail, then you would believe their spin/lies that the down-town areas of major Australian/UK cities are in anarchy on Friday and Saturday nights - when if you actually go there it is nothing of the sort. I'm thinking Sydney, Perth, Cardiff, Newcastle here. The cops spin it because they don't want to do their job properly and TT/DM want to appeal to their core audience of the appalled, middle-aged white middle-class

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

I think a lot of these online petitions are a waste of time. So 100 000 or so people electronically sign some petition and suddenly the police are going to start adding patrols? Or drunk dickheads are going to stop what they're doing and think about sentencing laws? Not to ****ing likely, I'm afraid. Therefore I wont bother wasting my bytes filling out online petition I'll use them for useful shit like uploading cat videos to YouTube.

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

I make no apologies for bumping this one.

The signatories have gone to only 26k short of what is required.

No, petitions as such have no direct effect - but especially in this case they do provide a powerful message to those who *can* have an effect.

Re: The Thomas Kelly petition
 

While not all petitions will be listened to/acted upon, they do allow people an avenue for stating their beliefs. As an ageing hippy who took to the streets in the 70s to protest against conscription and also French nuclear testing in the Pacific, I sort of miss people being motivated enough about an issue to protest publically.

I don't know the answer to the drunken yobs' behavior, but I suspect that averting such behavior needs to begin at a very young age in homes and schools - all that supposedly old fashioned stuff that teaches kids that actions have consequences and letting it all hang out is not acceptable. Of course, not all kids are fortunate enough to have such adults in their lives - but when does 'the state' step in? Isn't when they're 19 and acting the drunken, violent fool too late? Buggered if I know :(

A personal ps - I don't want to take anything away from the tragedy of people being killed through street violence. Over 90 people have lost their lives in this way in Australia since 2000. But another very sobering fact - 70 women die every year in Australia at the hands of their partner. That's 70 Mums, sisters, daughters. I wish the media and police would speak out more on this issue as well.

Anyway, good luck Wol and whether I agree with this particular petition or not, good on you for acting on your beliefs.