Nothing will ever bring Allison Baden-Clay back to her family. Nothing will diminish that loss. Nothing will ever render her death acceptable.
But today, thousands of Queenslanders have turned out to show that they remember Allison. They are rallying to show that they will not be silent about the decision to downgrade Gerard Baden-Clay’s conviction from murder to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
And across the country today, Australians are wearing yellow in solidarity with Allison’s family.
The Courier Mail dedicated its cover image today to the mother of 3 who was killed last year, calling on Queensland to unite for Allison.
Close friends of Allison are leading the march along with the parents of Daniel Morcombe, Senator Glenn Lazarus and Lisa Wilkinson.
“I am here today because like so many, I just have so many questions,” Wilkinson began. “Hopefully in the days, weeks, months ahead we will get the answers we need and we will get justice for Allison.”
Lisa Wilkinson addresses the crowd, saying domestic violence is a national sisgrace pic.twitter.com/Pj3jz1IQw5
— Scott Beveridge (@ScottBeveridge3) December 18, 2015
She explained the purpose of the protest.
“Today is about justice for Allison and for all women victims of domestic violence. It is an example of democracy in action. It’s about a peaceful community rally to say justice has not been served to Allison or her family. A fundamental right of our democracy [is] people can disagree with judges’ decisions and we have the freedom to express that. If enough people are unhappy with the law as it stands, people have the right to ask our government to create new laws in accordance with the will of the people. This community is coming together saying the Court of Appeal decision does not deliver justice for Allison, even if it proves to be a correct decision. Change the law to ensure this doesn’t happen again. Let’s hope they listen to the will of the people.”
A group called Doingit4Allison have organised the event and are calling on the Attorney General to appeal the decision to downgrade Baden-Clay’s sentence and to change the laws to make sure this does not happen again. “We need to let our political leaders know the social and legal structures designed to support and protect against domestic violence are not working. We’re #doingit4allison, we’re #doingit4all,” they say. A Change.org petition calling for the Queensland AG to appeal the recent decision has attracted over 100,000 signatures. A string of high profile Queenslanders have added their voices to the campaign in this video.
The idea that the man who was found guilty of killing her – the man who was supposed to love her, the father of her children – could potentially walk away from the crime without incurring the full extent of the law is astonishing.
Last night Lisa Wilkinson asked her followers to consider wearing yellow for Allison.
We are not in Brisbane today but we are marching for the same cause. For Allison, for her family and for everyone else whose lives have been impacted domestic violence.
This is a day for unity. A day to demand better. A day to say enough.