Mother sues for $750k in work-for-dole death

TWO and a half years after her son, 18, was fatally injured while doing a work-for-thedole job, Toowoomba woman Jennifer Fing still thinks about his last words to her.

Joshua Park-Fing stood in her bedroom doorway, as he was about to head off to work, farewelling her with the words “Love ya, have a good day’’ and “See ya Mummy’’.

“Little did I know they were the last words I would ever hear from my Joshy,’’ said Ms Fing, who is now suing a job agency and an agricultural society for $750,000.

Josh was thrown from a trailer on to a bitumen road, while he was working for the dole at Toowoomba Showgrounds, and died as a result of his head injuries.

“That day was the beginning of having to live the rest of my life with a heart so broken, never to be repaired, and a grief that will last till my last breath,’’ Mrs Fing said.

“Josh always said to me that he was going to live at home forever. He was never going to leave me.’’

Ms Fing’s District Court damages claim, filed by law firm Maurice Blackburn, is against the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland and job agency Neato Employment Services.

They are yet to respond to the claim.

“Joshy’s accident should never have happened, should never have been possible,’’ Ms Fing said.

Last year, the agricultural society was fined $100,000 and the job agency was fined $90,000 for Workplace Health and Safety breaches, as a result of Joshua Park-Fing’s fatal accident.

“At night I hold his T-shirt close to my heart and cry away my pain,’’ Mrs Fing said.