14/09/2025
We should revisit our views and console ourselves first as a community on how to minimise and improve on all aspects
What Is the Real Purpose of This March?
The South Sudanese community in Victoria has been called to march on Parliament House. The flyer describes it as more than a protest, a demand for justice, safety, and dignity. But we must pause and ask: what exactly are we marching for, and against whom?
The Victorian Government, through Youth Justice, community agencies(CMY, Junubi, Youth Justice Intervention), and Victoria Police, has been working with the community. There are flaws, yes, but there have also been genuine efforts to respond. The question then becomes: Is marching the right response while our children continue to die from knife attacks, self-harm, su***de, suspicious deaths, and drug-related causes?
When I met with the police in July, they asked a direct question: Why are 14-year-olds on the streets at midnight? They made it clear that if parents coordinated with them, they would help return children safely to their homes. This is not an attack on the community; it is a mirror.
The people calling for the march are themselves part of a divided community, which, if asked, would struggle to explain what alternatives they have provided for the youth. Police and government are not uncles or parents. The state serves millions of Victorians, if not all Australians. Our community is one of the smallest in Victoria, yet why do we continue to appear so often in negative media stories, usually linked to crime or youth crisis? The truth is that the community needs robust answers and practical solutions before blame is entirely attributed to the government.
If your child, or the child of your uncle, cousin, or aunt, leaves the house with peers and goes missing, who should be held responsible? Is it the police, or is it the parent? The first place where blame will fall is the family. It then extends to the community, and finally to service providers.
Marching against agencies is often a deflection. It is easier to point outward than to look inward. The truth is that our community, with its beautiful logos and leaders dressed in fine suits, has no community-based solutions. We speak of leadership with pride, but we do not run rehabilitation centres. We do not provide diversion programmes that can guide our youth back on track when they stumble.
How, then, can we call for justice while ignoring our collective responsibility? How can we demand action from outside institutions when, within our own community, we refuse to build the structures that could save our children?
Marches and placards will not bring solutions if we avoid looking inward. Justice is not only about demanding action from the government; it is also about recognising where our responsibilities lie as parents and elders. If our children are mostly victims of themselves, then the work begins at home. External pressures exist, but internal neglect is equally destructive.
This week, the Attorney General of Victoria visited the families of the latest victims. The commissioner of Youth Justice also listened. Both acknowledged the pain and pledged support for solutions. If they are already at the table, then what is it that we must take to the streets?
The crisis facing our youth will not be solved by deflecting blame or treating every tragedy as an excuse to march. It will be solved when we, as a community, face the hard truth: that we must organise ourselves, coordinate with the system, and take real responsibility. Justice will only come when truth is spoken, responsibilities are shared, and solutions are built from within as well as without.
