On Sunday night I posted a photo and some information about the death of a friend 14 years ago. 

Since then it has been shared on social media 27,203 times, received 3247 comments and 8575 likes.

The response to my post, I think, has little to do with the content and everything to do with a sense of frustration from the public that seems to be coming to a climax. 

We want to see change. We don’t want to live in a place where such crimes go unsolved and people who do horrible things are still walking among us undetected.

We live in the kind of country where, if a 13-year-old kid vanishes off the side of the road, for two days we assume he ran away.  In theory – I wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t want to live somewhere that violent behavior is so commonplace that you would immediately assume the worst. 

When my friend Michelle went missing, the assumption was the same. We knew her final movements: she was dropped off by two friends to catch her lift home. She’d missed it, so she walked home. 

She lay dead for three days until someone walking their greyhounds found her. I’m not sure I want to live somewhere that assumes a missing girl has been kidnapped, sexually assaulted or killed and react accordingly.  But, the unfortunate thing about Michelle’s case is that her body lay exposed to the elements for so long that a lot of the evidence that could have been used to catch her killer was just washed away by rain. She was right where we knew she most likely could be we just never thought that something so sinister could happen in such a small place. 

If the Police had searched her path home earlier, would that evidence have been preserved, would someone have been convicted of her murder? We’ll never know.

There are a few things I think people are angry about, and many instances that have prompted them to be so. 

There are violent, and predatory offenders who are being released too soon, who are re-offending, and the crimes they commit are getting progressively worse. There are investigations that are taking decades to solve, leaving families in absolute distress. 

We were sick of young kids being punched once for no reason and dying, so we campaigned and did something about it. Now heavy penalties and public campaigns are preventing future deaths and injuries. 

We were shocked when a guy opened fire on holiday makers, so we made it almost impossible for people to access semi-automatic weapons. We are a country that takes action to provide the kind of security we deserve and to do what’s right. There is the same feeling of frustration and anger surrounding this issue that prompted those actions, and it’s time for something to change.

Jill Meagher was raped and murdered by a man with a 20-year history of violent attacks on women who was allowed parole, reoffended and with each new crime, elevated his level of violence. 

Daniel Morcombe’s killer was jailed for the rape of a seven-year-old child and again for attacking a six-year-old boy, before killing 13-year-old Daniel. 

Who knows if Michelle’s killer has a history of similar offences. That person is out there among us, and has been for 14 years. More public pressure needs to be applied to catch the person responsible for her death, and other cases like hers.

It’s time for public pressure to make change. I think the majority of people would like to see harsher sentencing, tighter parole laws, and a higher alert when it comes to disappearances. If someone goes missing, the time of innocence has unfortunately come to an end: we need to start assuming the worst. 

The swift action in the investigation of Jill Meagher’s case was impressive. I feel confident that in this day and age, if something happened to me, we’re better equipped to deal with the situation and resolve the case than we were when Michelle was taken. But we’re a preventative country. We don’t wait for things to go too far before we take action, change policies and simply do not accept violence and dangerous behavior. 

It’s a sad day, but I think the reality is, we need to do something about this. Brett Cowans and Adrian Bayleys should not be walking the streets of our cities and towns. 

I don’t even care if on occasion, someone who is rehabilitated is held for longer than they deserve. The flip side of that is families like the Brights,  living in absolute turmoil for years, never having answers and never being able to move on. The benefit of the doubt has been worn out by people who prey on the young, the weak and the vulnerable. We need to keep people safe, so we can continue to be the safe and secure country we always have been. I want my kids to catch buses to the shops; I want them to walk home from their friend’s birthday party. We shouldn’t have to change our lives to accommodate violent criminals. 

We should change the system so they are separated from the general population and dealt with accordingly. The only way to do that is to take a hard line on violent offenders and put whatever measures and infrastructure in place it takes to do that.

If we need bigger jails, so be it. If our police need better training in how to investigate violent deaths and attacks, then do it. If we need to make changes our laws, pass them. We are capable of doing it, and in the past our leaders have heard us and done what it takes.

 They need to do so again now. The leaders of the campaigns against one punch, random attacks have shown that social change can be started by individuals when they gain the support of the masses. This is something that we need to start driving home to our elected leaders, and let them know that we’ve had enough and want to see change. Let’s all take a stand, and make this change happen.