How grief and anger made Jeff Tougher a frontline advocate

Inside a family's fight to build Steven Tougher's legacy Surrounded by friends and strangers dressed in his son's favourite colour, Jeff Tougher looked anything but alone. Woonona Bowling Club was filled with laughter, prizes and people determined to support the family of paramedic Steven Tougher, who was fatally stabbed while on a work break in Sydney's south-west on April 14, 2023. Jeff joked with the crowd, while his wife, Jill, said the fundraiser would have suited their son perfectly. "I just want everyone to know that Stevie was so much more than what happened to him on the 14th of April," she said. "This is right up his alley; a big party, everyone having fun and still helping the community." But away from the crowds, Jeff worries whether he is doing enough to honour his son's legacy. "The three o'clock in the morning waking up thinking, 'Am I doing the right thing? Am I representing my son in the proper way?'" he said. "Have I upset somebody? Have I said something that has damaged my chances? Have I offended a politician? Am I that pest? I never wanted to be that pest." Following Steven's death, Jeff found himself becoming an unlikely advocate for frontline-worker safety. During visits to ambulance stations and a road trip distributing Steven's Law stickers, he says he and Jill spoke with more than 1,000 paramedics. The warm welcomes often gave way to quieter disclosures. "When the fanfare died down and we'd been there a little while, they'd start to pull you aside and say, 'I need to talk to you about this. This is what happened to me and I'm not being supported,'" Jeff said. "They'd say, 'We're told to just suck it up. It's part of the job.'" NSW Ambulance figures show 1,500 incidents of occupational violence were reported against staff in the first eight months of 2026. There were 1,376 reported incidents throughout 2025 and 1,081 in 2024. Occupational violence covers a broad range of behaviour, including physical assault, intimidation, threats, verbal abuse, inappropriate touching and sexualised behaviour. NSW Ambulance said this year's apparent increase could partly be attributed to a change introduced in January requiring emergency medical call-takers to record any aggressive behaviour from patients or callers. Jeff said hearing paramedics' experiences had given him a new understanding of the cumulative effect of violence and abuse. He said repeated incidents could cause psychological harm and lead highly trained clinicians to question whether they wanted to remain in the profession. "These people study for years," he said. "It's all about service to the community, service to others. Steven was going to be a paramedic regardless. He'd do it for free if he could." NSW Ambulance said it supported and encouraged staff to report violence and aggression, and paramedics had its full backing not to enter or to withdraw from situations they considered unsafe. It said it had established a dedicated occupational violence prevention team, expanded face-to-face safety training and improved the way incidents are reported, categorised and reviewed. The service is also improving mobile duress technology and working with NSW Police on information-sharing. A spokesperson said the Tougher family would always have the "unwavering support" of NSW Ambulance. From anger to advocacy Jeff's advocacy began in the immediate aftermath of his son's death. "I remember when grief turned to anger and I remember when grief turned to vengeance," he said. "I remember saying to myself, 'You're not going to get anywhere harbouring those thoughts and wasting energy on those emotions.' "I thought to myself, 'What can I do to help my son achieve a legacy for what he sacrificed that day?'" The answer came to him almost immediately: Steven's Law. Jeff initially called for a mandatory 12-month prison sentence for anyone convicted of assaulting a frontline worker. He also sought body-worn cameras, access to stab or slash-resistant garments and a major public awareness campaign intended to make Steven's Law widely understood. But the NSW government does not support mandatory minimum sentences, arguing they remove judicial discretion and risk producing unjust outcomes. "Courts must be able to impose appropriate sentences based on the facts and circumstances of each case," a government spokesperson said. Jeff has not abandoned the campaign, but he has begun looking for a compromise. He has suggested a mandatory $1,000 fine as a possible starting point and now describes Steven's Law as a package of prevention, protection, consequences and public education rather than a single penalty. "I was starting the negotiations at the 12-month mandatory jail term," he said. "Let's work back. Let's work back to something we can put together. You can't just flick it." The man who killed Steven, Jordan Fineanganofo, admitted carrying out the fatal attack, but in 2024 the NSW Supreme Court found him not criminally responsible because of a mental health impairment. The court accepted he was acutely psychotic and unable to understand that his actions were wrong. He was detained as a forensic patient and remains subject to review by the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal. Jeff has also questioned whether failures in the mental health system allowed Fineanganofo's condition to deteriorate before the attack. Frontline offence penalties NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data shows 507 charges under laws covering offences against frontline emergency and health workers were finalised in the year to March 2026. The offences range from hindering, harassment and intimidation to assault causing injury and are not limited to incidents involving paramedics. Of 172 proven court appearances where an offence against a frontline worker attracted the most serious penalty, 42 resulted in custody. Supervised community sentences were the most common outcome, imposed in 65 cases. Separately, 91 of the 507 finalised charges were dismissed because of mental illness or cognitive impairment. Fines were imposed in 17 of the proven principal-offence matters, averaging $750 for emergency worker offences and $981 for health worker offences. The NSW government said it had worked closely with Steven's parents and introduced several changes following his death. It increased the maximum penalty for knife possession to four years in prison, prohibited knife sales to 16- and 17-year-olds and introduced legislation to make its knife wanding powers permanent. The government said the reforms had led to more knife prosecutions and an increase in custodial sentences for knife possession. It also pointed to the 25-year standard non-parole period for murdering an emergency worker. Campaign continues Other measures sought by Jeff remain under consideration or incomplete. NSW Ambulance has trialled body-worn cameras, but a broader introduction remains subject to consultation with the workforce. The service said it had also committed to completing independent Charles Sturt University research into the effectiveness of stab-resistant garments. More than three years after Steven's death, Jeff remains frustrated by the pace of the response. He wants the premier, attorney-general, relevant ministers, NSW Ambulance and unions to meet and determine what could form part of Steven's Law. "All I'm asking from the government is that we all sit down in one room and come up with something that we can call Steven's Law," he said. "I don't think that's a lot to ask." Jeff said the campaign had consumed his retirement and placed pressure on his relationship with Jill, as each member of the family experienced grief differently. "It's very taxing and it puts strain on your marriage, there's no question about it," he said. "Grief works in different stages. Grief takes different time for different people." But at Woonona Bowling Club, the campaign's more joyful direction was on display. The fundraiser supported nursing and paramedicine scholarships and a foundation established in Steven's name. Asked what Steven would think of the campaign, the foundation, scholarships and the crowd wearing yellow in his honour, Jeff paused. "He'd be embarrassed, to start with," he said. "But he'd be proud." [Image text:] RFRESCUE DHL