Family violence is an issue fuelled by our collective silence – we don’t talk about it, we’re cautious to intervene, and we often don’t know what signs to look for.
But across Australia, police are called to a domestic or family violence incident every two minutes. One in four women have been the victim of gender-based violence, and it’s the leading cause of death, disability and ill-health in women aged 15-44.
That means in our daily lives, in contexts such as the workplace, we frequently come across women affected by sexual assault and/or domestic and family violence. And many of us have no idea.
Australia’s most well-known family and domestic violence campaigner, Rosie Batty, wants to change this disturbing reality.
For Batty, whose 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father in 2014, a beacon of hope is that “Australians everywhere can make a difference.”
Top Comments
WHY WHY WHY do we only talk about male violence against women?? What about violence against kids?? Given her son was killed by his mentally ill father , I would have thought this should be a significant pillar of Rosie's agenda, however it seems her message always defaults back to the overly simplistic women = victim, man = aggressor' view of DV.
Even forgetting that males are the victims between 25 & 33% of the time in partner violence, kids should be the major focus surely. And kids experience violence at the hands of their mothers just as often as they do from dads / other males. All of the most significant child killing cases in Australia in recent years have been mums.
This feminist left agenda driving the entire discussion of DV has to stop. Rosie, with a son who died due to a partner with mental illness, should be aware of this more than anyone.