What I've Learnt - Rosie Batty

WHAT I'VE LEARNT

Sadly it was a tragedy that brought mother Australian of the Year Rosie Batty into the limelight.

On an otherwise ordinary day in early 2014 her only child, Luke, an effervescent 11-year-old, was at cricket practice when he was killed in front of her by his father. It was a brutal, incomprehensible act, carried out amidst children playing sport on a summer’s day, and it shocked a nation.

24 hours later she bravely stood before the press determined to bring family violence into the public arena. Surrounded by microphones and media outlets she spoke.

“Family violence happens to everybody, no matter how nice your house is or how intelligent you are. It happens to anyone and everyone, and this has been an 11-year battle.”

At that moment. she woke Australia up to the complexities around domestic violence. The scourge of a mentally ill father and a family court battle ended up in a tragic loss of life.

This month the domestic violence horror trail featured in the media again.

Despicable, beyond comprehension.

More than 35,000 defendants faced court last year charged with breaching domestic violence ­orders - one of the key mechanisms for protecting victims of abuse.

And while 87 percent were convicted, most received a non-custodial sentence.

Advocates called for a tougher response as it emerged Queensland mother-of-three Kelly Wilkinson, allegedly burnt alive by her estranged husband in her backyard, and nine-month-old Kobi Shepherdson, taken by her father over a dam wall in South Australia, were both the subject of court orders.

But For Rosie In the midst of her sorrow, her Australian of the Year appointment became a lifeline for the only survivor of her family.

“Being Australian of the Year gave me a sense of purpose and meaning that I could just immerse myself in. I would have otherwise sat alone not knowing how to earn an income. It gave me the direction I’d never had before,”

“People would say, ‘You need to make time to grieve’ and I would find that irritating because I thought, ‘I can’t bear any more pain’. Every day I would cry. So if this was a distraction I welcomed it.”

Looking back at what she has achieved in her years of advocacy against family violence she reflects

“I made it a mainstream conversation, It was something that we had probably always known in society but we never talked about it. It was like this secret no one could talk about. That was a conversation that changed everything.”

Its clear Governments have a key role to play in strengthening this national approach.

It is critical that this new plan provides an ongoing road map for a continued, long-term, coordinated, and truly national approach to preventing and responding to this violence.

If these issues raise issues for you or a loved one please call 1800RESPECT

Deborah's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/what.ive.learnt/
Mind, Film and Publishing: https://www.mindfilmandpublishing.com/
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/what-ive-learnt/id153556330
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3TQjCspxcrSi4yw2YugxBk
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1365850