Announced to coincide with White Ribbon Day, the ingenious Buzz News App looks like a regularly updated news app but contains a hidden tool that allows users to upload a list of their safe and trusted contacts in its help section.
If their situation becomes unsafe or threatening, they can discreetly swipe the app, which will then send a pre-written test message to their contacts alerting them of the danger.
“Lisa’s name lives on,” Aileen Mountifield, the founder of the Lisa Harnum Foundation, tells aww.com.au. “And through her name, we can reach other women living in abusive relationships.”
Even if a woman’s partner checks her phone – as is often the case in abusive relationships – the app looks and acts like a standard free news app.
Developed by Ms Mountifield, it will be available as a free download through the Apple store or the foundation’s website lisahf.org.au.
Lisa Harnum was thrown to her death in 2011 by her fiancé Simon Gittany from the balcony of the Sydney apartment they shared together. Details of the wide-ranging abuse she suffered emerged at the murder trial last year, when Gittany was found guilty and later sentenced to 26 years in jail.
Ms Mountifield, who is in regular contact with Lisa Harnum’s mother Joan, developed the Buzz News app based on a similar app that is available in the US.
“Immediately I could see the value in having a domestic violence app that was disguised in a news feed and discreet,” she said. “I set about having an Australian version created straight away.”
The Lisa Harnum Foundation was established this year with the aim of setting up a domestic violence support centre for women in the Hills District of Sydney, which currently has no such services. It is a registered charity that doesn’t receive government funding.
The Buzz News App is a national service but is not intended to replace emergency services. In an emergency, victims should call 000.
