This is The Mansfield Police Memorial which serves as a reminder that on October 28th, 1878, Ned KELLY murdered three Police Officers, Sergeant Michael Kennedy and Mounted Constables Scanlon and Lonigan.

KELLY was no hero…

…The murderer was a career criminal and nothing else.

I accept that Ned KELLY and his gang of thugs have their place in history. But what I don’t accept is the need for violent criminals of any kind, or of any era, to be glamourised and thought of as heroes.

I most definitely do not accept the position that Father Peter Norden takes…

That my friends, is the good Father Peter Norden, a friend to all of us and most especially a friend to criminals, including Ned KELLY! After all, in 2002, Norden, in the defence of criminal’s rights wrote that “Imprisonment is both far more expensive than community mental health care and, more importantly, is less effective…”

Norden, who clearly believes that punishing criminal behaviour in any way shape or form is wrong, advocates in the same article the well worn left-wing concept of “Restorative Justice”…

There is another approach the community, and our political leaders, could take in dealing with public safety and crime control. It is an approach very much consistent with the value base of the Judaeo- Christian community. It is called “restorative justice”.

Restorative justice places reparation, rather than punishment, as a central concern and has been seen, where it is being implemented, to bring about a reduction in both offending and prison numbers.

And let’s not forget Crusader Norden’s defence of drug trafficker Van Nguyen…

Father Norden, who was involved in the failed fight to save drug trafficker Van Nguyen from execution in Singapore in 2005, yesterday said the position a nation took on capital punishment was a litmus test for its humanity. “It’s not a matter of self-interest or interfering in other countries’ jurisdictions. It’s not to do with guilt or innocence, but society’s recognition of the value of human life,” he said. Father Norden said capital punishment extended punishment to innocent victims such as Nguyen’s mother, Kim Nguyen.

Anyway, back to good old Ned KELLY.

Norden now speaks up for this triple murderer’s right to a proper burial…

To recognise the remains of those who were executed and finally buried in the grounds of Pentridge Prison is not to make heroes of them. In fact, to the contrary, it recognises that they were convicted criminals and were executed by the State of Victoria.

Huh? Oh I get it…Norden wants us all to be reminded of how evil and nasty we once were. We should all be ashamed of ourselves apparently.

But the punishment should end there. It should not continue in perpetuity by imposing a continuing punishment on their family members who have never been able to visit their gravesite and to have their burial ground acknowledged.

Norden is entirely wrong.

These murderers, these rapists, these criminals that were executed by the State of Victoria deserve no such acknowledgement.

Just think of Sergeant Michael Kennedy and Constables Scanlon and Lonigan. Think of them and their families and all the other victims of crime. Put them first I beg you because they are the ones that deserve your concern and compassion. They are the ones who have suffered the most.

Ned KELLY and his motley crew are long dead and good riddance to them.

Let’s just leave it at that shall we?