The same conversations are still happening: “Why didn’t she leave?” “What did she do?” “Is she lying?” The same politicians are paying lip service to the problem, calling it a scourge on Australia and failing at every corner to actually DO something about it. Women’s refuges are being closed, front-line services are being cut, the Family Law Court is overloaded and the justice system is still so ridiculously slack.
It’s not that I believe not enough has been done, I believe NOTHING has been done. Excuse my anger, I wrote this piece on the day a man drove his car into pedestrians in the Melbourne CBD when it was just confirmed a three-month-old baby had died. So I am angry – as a mum of three young kids – no, as a woman – no, as a human being. I get even angrier when I discover the murderer was due in court on that day for stabbing his brother and had a significant history of domestically related crimes. He was bailed – repeatedly.
It’s so frustratingly hard to escape the truth in these instances. If his previous crime had been to king-hit a man in a pub, this disgusting murderer would have been locked up and therefore unable to continue his campaign of terror against his family and in turn against the innocent victims in Melbourne. So let’s say it loud and clear: “The One Punch Law is sexist.” No law maker wants to properly align crime and punishment in domestic violence as they simply do not care enough about the ongoing deaths of women. Yes, let’s save the handful of “our boys” from mindless violence but screw the women who are violated daily and lose their lives, because, well, hey, they just should have left or picked better partners FFS.
No doubt there will be calls to review the system after this event but it’s not come about because they actually care about domestic violence victims. It’s this whole underplaying of domestic and family violence, like it’s not the same as “other” violence – except when it is. It’s so glaringly obvious and yet people are afraid to connect the dots.
Indeed, Victorian lawmakers went straight into “law making “ mode with reports saying, “It is understood the meeting will discuss potential reforms to bail laws, including whether Victoria will continue to use after-hours volunteer bail justices, who are not used in any other state.” Since this very public crime the Government has also asked former Supreme Court judge and Director of Public Prosecutions, Justice Paul Coghlan, to provide urgent advice about additional changes to the bail system.
But here’s the thing: that news cycle is over. Yes, we still mourn for the victims of that horrific crime but our society and politicians are only being reactive. They only step up and give great promises during a press conference in the aftermath of a crime, especially one so public. After it’s died down we’re left wondering if anything has actually changed. Just last week a news notification popped up in my FB feed that read: “Man bailed after punching his pregnant girlfriend in the head for refusing to have an abortion.”
See? Nothing has changed.
Women Dead in February 2017: 3
Women dead in 2017: 7
