Following the tragic death of Cobram resident Emma Bates last April, I attended several rallies and spoke with victim-survivors of all ages and genders.
No two stories are alike, and each person I was privileged to speak to offered me a new angle on the complex issue of domestic violence, giving me much to reflect on and helping me broaden my mind.
I decided to delve deeper into the issue with an article in mind. My starting point was a straightforward question: Is the government doing enough to tackle domestic violence?
As of July 3, 39 women have allegedly died at the hands of their current or ex-partner, according to Destroy the Joint.
Founded in 2012 by UTS academic and Sydney Morning Herald journalist Jenna Price, Destroy the Joint is a feminist Facebook group “designed to be the national record of femicide and share the facts about violence against women, including domestic violence with the Australian public.”
Let’s take a moment here: look around you. Can you count or imagine 40 people around you? It is crucial to reflect on the lives lost rather than seeing them as mere numbers.
Because this figure doesn’t reflect these women’s hopes and dreams lost for ever.
This figure doesn’t take into account the family, the friends and the community immediately affected by these preventable and unnecessary deaths.
Almost 40 women killed in six months: how can we accept this as a society? How many more women must die before we demand the change we need?
Survivors I spoke to all raised the same concern: the fact that people with lived experience of domestic violence are never invited to the table when it comes to designing measures that can have an impact is the obstacle that gets in the way of resolving the matter.
As a result, all we get is empty words and “performative acts of goodwill”, as Ava, a survivor I interviewed rightly put it.
Would you let someone with no experience in hairdressing give you a haircut? Since you probably answered no, the next question is: Why do we consistently let politicians with no prior knowledge of matters that impact us design measures that then fail us?
With that question in mind, I conducted extensive research and compiled key information, figures and stories from survivors in an article called ‘Government’s new measures on gender violence: are they enough?’.
The article is available here. “Don’t be shy; it’s a great, enlightening read,” Bella, one of the victim-survivors I interviewed, said about it.
If you do give it a read, please send me an email to tell me about it — I’d love to hear from you! Khadija.hadjab@mmg.com.au