Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to the Morcombe family. Just under a week ago, the murderer of their son Daniel Morcombe was committed in trial by his peers, found guilty and convicted of heinous crimes, and he is now going to serve at least the next 20 years in jail. There are a couple of observations I would like to make.

First of all, this crime should never have been allowed to happen. Let me read to you what this criminal, this pervert, had done previously. Whilst he was actually in community service as a result of property and dishonesty offences and he was working in that community service, he took a seven-year-old boy into the toilets and molested him, and he went back to his work. Subsequently, in Darwin, he brutally molested a six-year-old, at one stage covering the child's mouth when he cried loudly. The man, Cowan, left the boy to die. The youngster was found that evening when he stumbled out of the bushland naked and covered in dirt, cuts and bruises. His eyes had haemorrhaged and his lung was punctured, injuries a doctor said were caused through strangulation. The police thought he had been hit by a car. The man only got 4½ years in jail for this.

I am saying to the judiciary today that this is not meeting public expectations. Daniel Morcombe died because the judiciary failed him when a man like this did what he did. The first thing I would say is: when you hurt a child in this way, you forfeit your right to be free for the rest of your life. Let me say that again: when you hurt a child, you forfeit your right to be a free man for the rest of your life. People like this have no place in our society.

I want to read to you the words of Denise Morcombe as she spoke to the judge before sentencing. She said, 'I have tears as they describe not being able to sleep more than three hours at a time since my son disappeared.' She described the bond of 'the big eyes staring at me'. She wrote:

I have bad nightmares every couple of weeks, screaming out "no, no, I won't go with you".

I see my son lying by himself in that dark, eerie bushland, being destroyed by wild animals. …

It was an innocent boy …

He was gentle, he loved animals, and wanted to be a vet. He would never hurt a soul. He was scared of the dark, and often slept on the floor …

She goes on, but I will stop there, only because I do not have time. These are the words of a mother in great anguish.

I honour the Morcombe family, Dean, Bradley, Bruce and Denise, for what they are doing for the rest of Australia's children. A young family, Tim and Sam Aitken, the teenage sons of Tony and Lisa, have come up with the idea that we should be painting the overpass where Daniel was abducted red, like the tie I am wearing today, in memory of the shirt he was wearing at the time. It would stand as a permanent reminder to every family that comes to the beautiful Sunshine Coast: protect your children. Always be aware of the predators that, unfortunately, lurk amongst us.