Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My electorate office for the seat of Hughes is located directly opposite the Sutherland railway station. From the window of my office in the afternoon, I can see hundreds of young women returning from their work in the city, getting off the train at Sutherland, walking to their car to go home to their loved ones. On a September day back in 1988, one of those young women alighting from Sutherland station was 20-year-old Janine Balding. She walked to her car parked in Toronto Parade, and what followed was one of the most brutal acts in Australian criminal history. She was abducted at knife-point at random, driven off in her own car and was later tortured, gang-raped and drowned.

When sentencing the murderers, the judge said, 'However, the facts surrounding the commission of these crimes are so barbaric that I believe I have no alternative other than to impose upon these young prisoners, even despite their age, a life sentence. So grave is the nature of this case that I recommend that none of these prisoners in the matter should ever be released.' The judge was right. There are some crimes so unspeakably evil that the only alternative for those guilty of it is to have their files marked 'Never to be released'. Therefore, it is very disappointing, with White Ribbon Day tomorrow, that the UN should be criticising Australia, worrying about the human rights of these convicted murderers and rapists. We need to think about the rights of those women that are victims of violence.

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