2006 Werribee DVD Incident - Reactions

Reactions

• On 24 October 2006, the girl's father was interviewed on 774 ABC Melbourne by host Jon Faine. He stated, "We are going to pursue this to the end to ensure justice comes. It's a horrible, horrible thing that's happened to my daughter."
• Steve Bracks, Former Premier of Victoria, commented on the DVD on 24 October: "Frankly I think it's behaviour which the whole of the Victorian community will reject and I know the police are investigating the matter."
• Mary Bluett, the president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union, which represents teachers in the public education sector, stated: "Parents and schools have to be ever vigilant and aware that young people will act in that way and imitate shows like Jackass, which humiliate people."
• When interviewed by the Nine Network, child psychologist Dr. John Cheetham said, "It's the sort of behaviour you would expect in a prison camp. It's something like a flashback to the Second World War and the way the Jews were treated."
• Helen Coonan, the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, said that the use of the internet by the group was "a sobering reminder of the underbelly of the internet. While undoubtedly it is a remarkable resource with many positive uses, its ubiquity across the globe means criminal acts are increasingly being captured on video and streamed around the world in seconds."
• Johnny Knoxville, the principal star of the Jackass series, denied suggestions that the series may have inspired the DVD, saying: "We're not mean spirited, we're not evil...Shoot those little bastards."
• Some of the young men involved in the DVD are unrepentant, reportedly "boasting and laughing" about the incident.
• When interviewed on radio on 26 October, Shane Bourke - the mayor of the City of Wyndham, which includes the suburb of Werribee - had been "an eye-opener not just for our community, but for the rest of Australia." He also said that "what these young people have done is disgusting and abhorrent."
• Les Twentyman, a prominent Melbourne social worker, called for an "urgent summit" to address teenage gangs - which represented "signs now of a youth culture that's thumbing their nose at our quality of life" - in the city following the DVD's media coverage.
• John North, president of the Law Council of Australia, stated that any persons found to have been involved in the making of the DVD should not be publicly named. He said: "It's appalling behaviour, it's outrageous behaviour, but we shouldn't punish it with that feeling of retribution and revenge. We should try and make sure that people are punished properly if they commit a crime but that the rest of their lives aren't ruined, and some of these people might be quite young and some of them might be quite easily led by stronger peer group pressure."
• On 27 October, Former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard commented that the DVD was "appalling, and I hope are caught."
• Lynne Kosky, Victoria's Minister for Education, cancelled a planned visit to Werribee Secondary College on 27 October, with a spokesperson stating that this was to allow for the school to focus on student welfare. A teacher at the school reported that students in uniform and teachers had been abused in the wake of public controversy, and that "just when we most need some support visit has been pulled."