MY OPINION
CAR THEFT IS NO JOY
A TIME FOR REFLECTION
Jane Stephens is alarmed by the number of young people stealing vehicles, and writes we must change the language around this crime.
After Ashley Robinson was recently blinded by the light at Dicky Beach, he’s pondering beach houses past and future.
T
here is nothing joyful about it. Nothing that lifts the spirits. Nothing that nourishes the soul. And, truth be told, it is less a ride than a rip-off. We must stop calling the theft of a vehicle and the dash away with it a joyride. Joyride implies freedom, a treat and an indulgence. But that is not how the term is being used lately, and that usage needs to stop. The term ‘joyride’ should not apply to the wave of underage drivers stealing cars and driving them literally like they stole them. The little beggars are rarely alone, seemingly heightened by committing crimes in the company of other lost boys and girls. A boy, aged just 13, died near Toowoomba last week when the stolen VW Golf he was in rolled. He was one of four children in the car, and all were hurt. Three teenage girls, believed to be 15, lifted keys from a bag on the sideline of a Kedron footy field last week, stole a coach’s HiLux and livestreamed their highway escapades. And two boys gone wild stole a VW Golf car from Burleigh, rammed four police cars and several other vehicles on the Gold Coast.
Also this month, four young people, including a 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy, were finally stopped at Meridan Plains with road spikes after nicking a car from Brisbane’s southside. What is going on? The problem with ‘joyride’ being used to describe these escapades is that it doesn’t imply criminality. It doesn’t imply wanton disregard for another person’s valuable possession. It doesn’t imply the danger that stealing a car and taking off in it poses to self and others. The language must change. We did it with the coward punch. The act of hot-headed, sudden violence used to be called a ‘king hit’ until we wised up to there being nothing regal or dignified about it. It is a selfish assault by a gutless individual and now we all correctly label it that way. When a car is stolen, it is not a joyride for anyone, even if the young hoodlums think it is. When a person too young to hold a licence and too young to be named and shamed flogs a car and puts pedal to the metal on our streets, they are just reckless, rebellious little criminals.
Jane Stephens is a USC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.
O
ne of my many issues is I have some cognitive drama – bright lights, enclosed spaces, tight hallways, alleyways and even supermarket aisles sometimes set off a notfeeling-too-well episode. Recently I was driving back from Caloundra when just near Dicky Beach corner I was blinded by the sun and had a feeling of being closed in. I felt nauseous and I wasn’t sure what set it off until I stopped the car and looked back. The source of my issue was that massive house that completely dominates the corner, and just last week I saw an article about other motorists having issues with the reflection of the sun off the glass in the nearly completed mansion. It seems council and the owner are working towards a solution. Now in my opinion that is one ugly house doing absolutely nothing for the beachfront apart from overpowering it but I suppose that is the owner’s prerogative. As long as it complies with regulations they can build whatever they like, but it would have been lovely to see something reflecting back to what used to be there. There would be some turning in the
graves of some of the past neighbours on that historical strip of beachfront homes that include seeing a Test great playing beach cricket, a Governor-General jogging past with his Federal Police bodyguards and a well-known local doctor playing the bagpipes in his kilt to usher in each new year. On the flip side just last week I read a story about Tristan Kurz renovating an old home overlooking Kings and Shelly beaches respecting its heritage and coming up with something magnificent with a soul. An outstanding effort. I shouldn’t be surprised though as the Kurz family have long been on the Coast and everything they have built has had some class about it. I guess Elton John might be able to do a sequel to his hit song Club at the End of the Street, maybe Supermarket at the Start of the Strip. Maybe it could become a tourist attraction, with no SS Dicky wreck there anymore maybe they could call it Fort Dicky. Each to their own I suppose – anyway I feel nauseous just thinking about it. I might have to use the inland carriageway in future.
Ashley Robinson is the manager of Alex Surf Club and the chairman of the Sunshine Coast Falcons.
The opinions expressed are those of the authors. These are not the views of My Weekly Preview publishers.
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