Secrecy fuelled group’s concern
Support flows for critically-injured Claire
FRESHWATER residents say they were stonewalled when they sought details about a foster child program moving into their neighbourhood.
It was the “raw emotion” rising from that evasive reception – not racism, they say – that led to a meeting where residents called for the program to shift to a suburb with a higher indigenous population.
The Stratford and Freshwater Community Association held a second meeting on Tuesday with Barron River MP Craig Crawford, who previously warned residents to be “very cautious about turning this into a racial discrimination issue”.
UnitingCare’s Newpin program takes in mothers deemed to have turned their lives around for supervised visits and lessons with their children.
SAFCA president Paul Matthews said neighbours of UnitingCare’s offices on Vallely St had serious concerns about the location’s suitability and repeated efforts to glean information had been met with obfuscation and secrecy.
“When you start off like that, of course the community is going to be concerned about what the outcomes are going to be,” he said. “If we’re going to welcome a group like this, we need to be informed about what’s going on. People’s fears need to be assuaged.”
Minutes of the July 25 meeting contained nine refer- REPORT: The front page of the yesterday. ences to Newpin participants’ race, and the suggestion it should move to an “M suburb”.
“From the minutes you can tell, that’s raw emotion … Whatever they’ve said was probably in the heat of the moment too, because we weren’t getting anywhere,” Mr Matthews said. “We weren’t getting the information we wanted.”
Mr Crawford agreed UnitingCare should have done a better job with community consultation, noting it was not too late to turn the situation around. He stood by his initial comments about the conversation straying towards racially-charged territory.
“When I saw the minutes of that meeting, I had grave concerns about some of that commentary that it had the potential to be going in the wrong direction,” he said.
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REDLYNCH beautician Claire Tucker is still in a critical condition in Cairns Hospital after taking a tragic tumble after the Cairns Cup last weekend.
The 36-year-old is suffering serious head and spinal injuries after she was found under the pedestrian bridge over Clarkes Creek outside Stockland Shopping Centre at Earlville on Saturday about 9pm.
It is believed she had attempted to walk from the racecourse towards town to hail a taxi after becoming separated from her friends.
Police believe she had fallen 2m from the pedestrian bridge on to a concrete drain but how is still unknown.
Her friends have started a GoFundMe page to raise money to support Ms Tucker and her five-year-old son.
As of late yesterday afternoon, they had raised $30,315 towards their goal of $100,000.