One Punch Can Kill

The One Punch Can Kill campaign is such a startling reminder that people's lives can be ruined, or even lost, in an instant, simply by one bad decision. I felt this was a really important and positive message to support and to reaffirm the fact that any kind of violence is absolutely not ok. -- Kendal Nagorcka aka Picasso from The Shak.

At the BETS day earlier this year, several of our members were privileged enough to hear Jonty Bush talk. She shared her story as a victim of homicide and challenged us to fight back against violence in our society.

Jonty is the current CEO of the Queensland Homicide Victims' Support Group, an organisation that provides support to victims of homicide, raises awareness about their needs, and aims to promote education and reform .

As part of this education and reform, Jonty, the QHVSG, the Queensland Government and concerned people throughout the state have supported the One Punch Can Kill program. "Every year far too many young Queenslanders are assaulted at parties, in bars and out on the streets. We exist for one purpose: to reverse this. All too often young people are getting hurt or even killed when they are out just trying to have a good time."

Youth Homelessness

Homelessness seems to be a 'hot topic' in the media at the moment with today's release of the National Youth Commission's Inquiry into Youth Homelessness. In last week's edition of The Satellite Merrin Jagtman's cover story talked about an increasing number of people who are homeless in Brisbane's south-west suburbs. (Merrin is the same journalist who wrote an article about our club in celebration of Rotaract's 40th anniversary.)

The Sunday Mail reported that "more than 100 000 Australians live on the street, a third are under 25, a quarter live in Queensland." [April 9, 2008, p26). The article contained several quotes from Angela Barnes, executive manager of Brisbane Youth Services. She emphasised the importance of meeting basic physical and emotional needs before beginning employment training and job seeking.

The ABC reported a fortnight ago: "As mortgage stress rises across the country, more and more Australian families are reaching crunch point and having their homes repossessed. The aspirational suburbs of Sydney are among the hardest hit.

In the city's south-west, there are reports that working people are moving into homeless shelters because they have failed to meet their loan repayments. Home repossessions for 2008 are already at record highs and are expected to increase further through the year.

Phil Hancock from Brisbane Youth Service will be visiting our club on Thursday May 1 to discuss youth homelessness with us. BYS have been operating for more than 20 years and run a range of services including street outreach, a drop in centre and a health clinic as well as a parenting program for yong parents or parents-to-be who are homeless or at the risk of homelessness. As always, feel free to bring a friend with you. It should be a good night as we learn about youth homelessness and perhaps start thinking how we might be able to do our little bit to help.