Today is a day that no mother should have to go through. Today is the day my beautiful boy Luke would have turned thirteen.
I would have woken him with his favourite breakfast. He would have dragged his surly teenage self out of bed and as I made a fuss and gave him his present, I would have marvelled at how my boy was so quickly morphing into a man.
But it is not to be. Instead, all I have is memories. Memories of my Luke forever frozen in the body of an eleven-year-old. Never to graduate from high school, never to don a backpack and set off to explore the world, never to fall in love or have his heart broken.
Today is a day that will be unique to me, for no other mother had a son like my Luke. Yet sadly, it is also a day that will bring a pain tragically familiar to many other mothers: the birthday of a loved one lost to family violence.
Since Luke was killed, I have faced a fundamental choice. Rail against the senselessness of it, or try to make it count for something. Luke was too special not to leave a legacy, and I am determined to forge one for him.
Rosie with son, Luke.
So it is today that I launch the ‘Never Alone’ campaign on behalf of the Luke Batty Foundation.
I want to build a nationwide support group of women and men who commit to standing beside the victims of family violence.
I want to have the uncomfortable conversations about the way family violence services are funded, and about the way the police and judicial systems deal with both the perpetrators and victims of this most pernicious crime.
I want to drag this issue out from the shadows so that no other mother has to experience the pain I will go through today.
And so, I urge you to join me. Show your support to victims of family violence by signing up at www.neveralone.com.au – and join the movement of Australians who believe that one person killed every week at the hands of a family member is one person too many.
In the past year I have spoken out at every opportunity, to have my story heard and to ensure Luke’s death was not in vain.
It’s a simple story, and one that will resonate with most victims of family violence. Luke and I were not to blame. We were failed by the system – a system that I wrongly believed was there to protect us. A system that desperately needs to change.
Unless we, as a society, make a stand, now, the violence will only continue. There is momentum around this issue now, but it can just as easily dissipate. We need to send the message to victims that they are not alone.
Because together we can make a difference. Together we can help to make birthdays the joyous events they are supposed to be.
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