The family of homicide victims would have a say in the killer's sentence under controversial new laws backed by Attorney-General Greg Smith and approved by the NSW cabinet.
Read MoreCCTV Camera installed in Victoria Street, Potts Point – following the deaths of Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie
The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, working in conjunction with the City of Sydney, has funded and installed a CCTV camera in Victoria Street to cover the section of road where the two young men both lost their lives.
Read MoreTEN new CCTV security cameras that offer 360 degree coverage of the city’s late-night crime hot spots will be installed by the end of the month.
The cameras, to be set up by the City of Sydney in Kings Cross, Surry Hills and the CBD, will be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Read MoreIn the week a man was sentenced to just four years for throwing a deadly blow in Bournemouth, we report how Australia is struggling to tackle a spate of such attacks. Ralph Kelly speaks to reporter Jonathan Pearlman.
Ralph Kelly comments to reporter Angus Whitley
Our composer Phillip Wilcher was deeply shaken by this event and like so many composers turned to his art for solace, but also with a view to giving some comfort to the Kelly family and to the world at large. He chose Gerard Manly Hopkins’s poem, Heaven-Haven, and used it to inspire a string quartet that bears the same name.
Read MoreThe citizens' jury will consider increasing the number of alcohol-free zones, improving transport, breath-testing clubbers and pub-goers before letting them into licensed venues and educating people about the consequences of violence.
They spent Saturday night touring the city's entertainment precincts before spending the early hours of Sunday at the emergency department of St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst, where both Thomas Kelly and fellow teen Daniel Christie died after being attacked.
Read MoreThe citizens' jury will consider increasing the number of alcohol-free zones, improving transport, breath-testing clubbers and pub-goers before letting them into licensed venues and educating people about the consequences of violence.
They spent Saturday night touring the city's entertainment precincts before spending the early hours of Sunday at the emergency department of St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst, where both Thomas Kelly and fellow teen Daniel Christie died after being attacked.
Read MoreWhen Thomas Kelly died after an unprovoked assault in Kings Cross in July 2012, the issue roared back to the top of the agenda. What Nicolaou and the AHA did next sowed the seeds for the sanctions we witnessed on Tuesday.
Rather than agreeing to work with the community to trial various options such as earlier closing hours and lockouts, the lobby group rejected them out of hand.
Instead it tried to shift the focus to personal responsibility, police, pre-fuelling (drinking at home before going out) and illicit drugs.
Mandatory eight-year jail sentences for fatal one-punch attacks fuelled by alcohol or drugs are among are raft of measures to be introduced to curb alcohol-related violence in Sydney.
Ralph Kelly and Sandy Street SC who met with the Hon. Greg Smith Attorney General about changes to the sentencing laws; say they are happy the new laws which go "way above what we were asking for".
Published in the SMH.
Read MoreNothing will bring back their son but the family of one-punch victim Thomas Kelly says NSW is finally "on the road towards justice".
Ralph and Kathy Kelly said they were surprised, amazed and deeply grateful for the raft of measures proposed by the state government on Tuesday, including tougher sentencing laws for alcohol-fuelled violence.
Published in the SMH
Read MorePrime Minister Tony Abbott says he is appalled by recent incidents of alcohol-fuelled violence in Sydney and wants perpetrators to feel the full force of the law.
Daniel Christie, 18, is the latest victim of an attack in Sydney's notorious nightclub district of Kings Cross.
Published on ABC News.
Read MoreThe O'Farrell government's reluctance to consider pub lockouts and earlier closing times to drive down alcohol-fuelled violence has inevitably led to the charge it is in the pocket of the hotel industry.
And it's easy to understand why, given the close ties between politics and pubs in this state.
For starters, the chief executive of the NSW branch of the Australian Hotels Association, Paul Nicolaou, is a former Liberal candidate who for many years ran the state party's fund-raising arm, the Millennium Forum.
Read MoreRalph and Kathy Kelly call on NSW Government and society to take a stand on alcohol fuelled violence; the Kelly's have updated their change.org petition with specific new measures to address alcohol-relating offending.
The parents of king-hit victim Thomas Kelly have stepped up their campaign to get the NSW Government to tackle the issue of alcohol-fuelled violence.
Read More
To all our dear friends,
We would sincerely like to thank all of our partners who have so generously given so much of their time to support our foundation and cause. Without your help none of what we have achieved in the last 12-months would have been feasible. We are truly blessed to have your support and recognise every single persons input as invaluable.
The board of directors of the foundation will focus our attention on changing attitude in our youth to pre-fuelling, binge-drinking and the current opinion that its "cool to be drunk". Associated within this is alcohol-fuelled violence which led to the tragic death of our beautiful son Thomas in July 2012 that has left our family decimated.
Read MoreWatching weekend news bulletins in Sydney this month has been depressingly predictable. Sickening images of alcohol-related violence have featured with monotonous regularity.
It's been 18 months since the city was shocked by the drunken attack that killed 18-year-old Thomas Kelly. After Kelly's death, Fairfax Media launched the Safer Sydney campaign. We don't want a nanny state but we believe the people of Sydney deserve to live in an environment where they can enjoy a drink, listen to music, meet and engage with others in safety.
Published in the SMH.
Read MoreAfter witnessing the high price of alcohol-related violence, eminent medical specialists from St Vincent's Hospital have issued an ultimatum to governments to rein in rampant alcohol abuse.
Pointing to street assaults blamed on drunkenness, including attacks that left two men in neighbouring beds in the hospital's intensive care ward before Christmas, the hospital's specialists are pooling their knowledge to combat the violence.
Published in SMH
Read MoreTHIS is a national tragedy.
2013 was another year of senseless violence on our nation's streets and most of it was fuelled by alcohol.
Despite the well-publicised tragedy of Thomas Kelly, 18, killed in 2012 out on his first night on the town, the king-hit assaults continued this year.
In NSW, there are more police fighting the war on alcohol than there are troops left fighting the war on terror in Afghanistan, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Published in the Daily Telegraph. Read more
For Immediate release: Monday 09th December 2013
NEW CCTV CAMERAS TO HELP PREVENT VIOLENCE IN SYDNEY ‘HOT SPOTS’
The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, welcomes today the City of Sydney’s swift action in supporting an additional ten (10) CCTV cameras to be located in the Kings Cross area, the CBD and Surry Hills. They will add to Sydney’s existing 87 Street Safety CCTV cameras.
Since Thomas’ death, Ralph and Kathy Kelly have been strong advocates for additional CCTV cameras in key “hotspot” areas identified across the city and Darlinghurst.
Read MorePublished on by Ralph Kelly.
No CommentsSydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore will tomorrow endorse the 10 new cameras to be installed at a cost of $350,000 over the next six months.
The cameras were recommended by police and Ralph Kelly, the father of 18-year-old Thomas who died after being king hit while walking along Victoria St in Kings Cross on a Saturday night in July last year.
A CCTV camera was installed at the site soon after his death, but Ralph Kelly, police, Liberal Councillor Christine Forster and former lord mayor Lucy Turnbull, have been lobbying for more cameras.
Published in the Daily Telegraph. Read the full article here
Read MoreThomas Kelly Youth Foundation supported by
