It’s understandable why former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty is “disturbed” that the Government could find huge amounts of money for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage but can’t seem to be able to fund domestic violence legal reform.
The anti-violence campaigner, who lost her only child Luke to a horrific incident involving her son’s father, has been calling on the Government to stop the cross-examination of domestic violence victims by the person accused of harming them – yes, it’s amazing that this is able to happen.
So she’s astounded that the Government was able to find $180 million to this plebiscite
“What was really disturbing to me is how readily the issue of the plebiscite was put on the agenda, and $180 million found for that type of initiative, and when you’re talking of the struggles to find any funding for legal, systemic reform, I find that incredulous, very confronting,” she told the ABC.
She was making these comments over the weekend as the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) met in Brisbane to discuss family violence.
While she welcomed a $30 million government commitment to frontline legal services for women, she believed more was required.
“I think that money and that funding will definitely be appreciated and be put to very valuable work, but we’re already talking of a really seriously underfunded service, seriously underfunded,” she said.
“If you visit a country area, and I’ve recently been in Broken Hill, if you see the degree of work that happens on the smell of an oily rag, with perhaps in some instances one lawyer covering a whole area.”
Her call has received a fair bit of support on social media over the weekend.
While Rosie agrees that the awareness of domestic violence had grown, the culture has not changed enough – the appalling figures themselves reflect this.
The statistics at the top of this store were collated by the ABC in April this year – and they showed that the number of times police deal with domestic violence matters has climbed 7 per cent in the past year.
Australia’s figures remain unacceptable but the researchers for the ABC concede that the increase in victims reporting to police could also be because of the growing awareness that domestic violence is a crime.
Experiencing family violence, or know someone who is? These services can provide support.
1800 Respect national helpline 1800 737 732
Women’s Crisis Line 1800 811 811
Men’s Referral Service 1300 766 491
Lifeline (24 hour crisis line) 131 114
Relationships Australia 1300 364 277
