Australian of the Year Rosie Batty made an emotional appearance at a press conference today as the government announced a $100 million dollar women’s safety package to bolster the fight against family violence.
Speaking alongside the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the new Minister for Women, Michaelia Cash, Rosie said today’s announcement felt like a vindication of the year’s worth of advocacy work she has done to raise awareness of the scourge of family violence.
“I’m very emotional,” she said. “I have worked really hard this year. I have spoken at more than 200 events to more than 250,000 people. There have been thousands of people [working on this issue] through decades.”
The government has committed to a $100 million “women’s safety package” – including greater security for women in their homes, better training of police, magistrates and emergency service providers, and a widespread education program in our schools.
One of the measures in the package includes a proposal to attach ankle bracelets to the worst perpetrators of family violence to allow police to track their movements.
Another includes the distribution of more than 20,000 mobile phones, and yet another will place lawyers in hospital emergency departments.
Senator Cash said better training of frontline service providers – including doctors, nurses, police and magistrates – would ensure a more ‘holistic approach’ to domestic violence victims, ensuring they didn’t have to “tell their story ten times to ten different service providers”.
For an exclusive extract of Rosie Batty’s book, detailing the day of her son, Luke’s death pick up a copy of the latest Australian Women’s Weekly.
You can also purchase a copy Rosie’s memoir, A Mother’s Story, here.
