Kiesha Abrahams

In the 11 days since her disappearance was reported, the shrine for missing 6 year old Kiesha Abrahams is getting bigger every day. When the parents made a tearful televison appearance, pleading for information about their missing daughter, no one believed them. That's because it was reported, and has since been confirmed, that when Kiesha was two years old, she was admitted to hospital and treated for a bite which came from an adult. Now a witness has come forward who said he saw Kiesha's step-father hitting her in the face in their car in a supermarket carpark. So there's not much sympathy for the parents - we've already judged them and found them guilty.

Hebersham and its neighbouring suburbs Bidwell, Doonside, Mount Druitt, Plumpton, Shalvey, Whalan and Tregear are well known to police and the Department of Community Services (DOCS). Little children are more likely to suffer abuse here than any other suburbs in Sydney. And it's one of Labor's safest seats - Chifley. Chifley is in the middle of two marginal seats Lindsay and Greenway and because they are marginal, they've been lavished with attention but because Chifley is a done deal for Labor, it's being ignored, as usual.

Chifley is held by Roger Price, the longest serving Labor member in Parliament. It has been gifted to Ed Husic, President of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union - yes, you guessed it - another union man - and he'll probably do what his predecessor did for his people - nothing! So it's the Labor Party or nothing.

And at the shrine today, there were over 500 teddy bears and other tributes as families come together in their grief. Caught in the poverty trap of a life on benefits, they might have dysfunctional families of their own - they know where the crack addicts live and whose kids are safe and those that are not. And as the case grows colder every day, hope of finding little Kiesha alive is fading away.

Excerpts taken from article by Miranda Divine in WA Today.