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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Peter Brewer

'It never leaves you': loss lingers on and fuels a simmering anger

It is sometimes said if a person wants to advocate for change their best chance is to run for politics.

With the ACT election looming in October, as tempting as that sounds for Tom McLuckie, he candidly admits being "too broken for that".

"I think you have to be honest with yourself and these past few years have really taken a toll on us, as a family," he said.

"And besides, I think I may say some things which might get me into trouble. In fact, I'm sure I would."

Every year around this time, the awful memories come flooding back.

Sunday night marks the second anniversary of when Sarah Payne and Tom McLuckie's son, Matthew, was killed on Hindmarsh Drive by a drug-affected driver. They are pictured with Matthew's dogs Kaiser the German shepherd and Poppy the groodle. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong

Sunday marked two years since Mr McLuckie's 20-year-old son, Matthew, was killed in a horrific head-on crash on Hindmarsh Drive while driving home late at night from his part-time job at Canberra Airport.

The facts and circumstances of the crash are well-documented and established. A police investigation found the young woman who crashed into Matthew's car was driving on the wrong side of the dual-lane carriageway, in a stolen car, at 177kmh while high on methamphetamine.

It is also strongly suspected she was racing against another car on the other side of the concrete road divider. The driver of that car is known to police but charges have proved difficult to press.

Although Matthew McLuckie died a few short hours after the crash, the other driver, Shakira Adams, survived, and was pulled from the wreckage with significant injuries.

The court is yet to decide whether, as a result of those injuries, she is fit to face charges.

The tragic nature of the crash, involving a blameless young man of such integrity and promise, shocked the Canberra community.

The grief experienced by the McLuckie family has been profound and ongoing.

Sarah Payne and Tom McLuckie. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong

"It never leaves you," Tom McLuckie said.

"It's always there."

In a letter penned to his dead son a year ago, Tom McLuckie wrote how he and his partner Sarah "would wake in the middle of the night with tears streaming down our faces and wet pillows".

"Once when walking the dogs, we fell to the ground and screamed at the universe for letting this happen to you. To us," he wrote.

"We spent a lot of time agonising over the 'what ifs', wondering how fate could be so cruel to such a nice and innocent young man."

Tom McLuckie hadn't paid much attention to ACT judicial outcomes up until he lost Matthew.

But in the aftermath of Matthew's death, after talking with police about their frustrations in dealing with the territory's dangerous and recidivist drivers, and being exposed to what he had described as "inept, unjust and mostly hopeless" nature of the ACT victims of crime compensation processes, he was galvanised into action.

The deeper he delved into the lenient sentencing outcomes of the ACT courts, the angrier he became.

His son's death - coming after that of 19-year-old Lachlan Seary, killed by a drink and drug-affected Peter Loeschnauer on the Monaro Highway in Hume in 2021 - triggered heated community debate and a specific ACT Assembly dangerous driving inquiry.

Tom and Matthew McLuckie. Picture supplied

And while that McLuckie anger still lingers on, these days it's set to a constant simmer and directed at the courts, and more specifically the ACT Labor-Greens leadership through his Facebook site ACTNOWforsaferroads.

"Systemic problems with the ACT judicial system are just not being addressed, and it's the government which has to lead that change," he said.

"All we get is the same rhetoric again and again, the same, say-nothing political speak and avoidance of the addressing key issues. Our judicial system is above any independent oversight or scrutiny. It has to change. It must change."

He and partner Sarah have now sold the family home at Chifley - "there were just too many sad memories there" - and moved to Tralee.

On Sunday, they headed out to Matthew's grave to set out some fresh flowers. And they remembered why this campaign was so important not only to themselves but to many other victims.

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