Take action now to protect the vulnerable

And, as reported in the Herald Sun on Monday, seven babies and children were murdered in Victoria in the past 20 months.

The murder of Luke Batty last week is one of far too many in our community. Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said that if it happened on public transport, there would be immediate action.

If any good can come of Luke's death, it is that people are now asking, what can be done? Are there any means of stopping men like Greg Anderson, or doing better for, as Mr Lay put it, the "thousands of Rosies and Lukes" in our communities?

As Rosie Batty said on radio this week: "This is why I live. I look for purpose and meaning and try to be a better person. I'd like everybody else to look within themselves.

Now is the time where the matter is raw and there is an opportunity for us to understand and really question what we do, how do we make sure that these kind of things don't happen."

For those not working directly at the coalface, it can be difficult to understand how tragedies like this can happen, how people can fall through the cracks in our system.

Working as I do in the family violence peak, and as a member of both the Victorian and Commonwealth Ministerial Advisory committees on violence against women and their children, I get the benefit of a birds-eye view of "the system". So it breaks my heart when I see the tragedies such as those over the past week, because I know that we could be doing so much more to prevent these deaths.

So what can be done?

The evidence shows that one of the times women and their children experiencing family violence are at really high risk is when they try to leave, yet we don't have a system that's built around that fact. It is very rare for violence to end when women leave abusive relationships. In fact, it is often when violence escalates and most women experience harassment, threats, further violence and stalking for up to years afterwards. Children often bear the brunt of this violence and are commonly used as pawns in the abuse.

I know from all the emails and abusive phone calls I receive that there are some in the community who believe we should also be talking about men as family violence victims. But it's important that we stick to the evidence: that for the most dangerous perpetrators, those most likely to kill, control and terrify their family members, they are nearly always men, and women and children are overwhelmingly victims. That is the evidence base used by both the Federal and Victorian governments and Victoria Police and it is clear: of the 29 family violence-related deaths last year, not all the victims were women, but all the perpetrators were men.

WE are really encouraged by the increasing number of men who are taking a stand on this issue because until we have the courage as a community to look at why some men in our community choose to use violence, it will continue to devastate lives.

Family Violence Intervention orders are an important part of our system, but depending on them alone to keep women and children safe will never be enough.

Now is the time to build a more sophisticated system to monitor men who are a danger to others. There are many agencies in contact with men who pose a significant risk: Victoria Police, the Magistrates' Courts, Corrections officers, Child Protection, community and health services.

There are currently no mechanisms for these agencies to know who else is in contact with a particular family or to co-ordinate their efforts and share information with others.

The Victorian Government has funded the trial of two "high-risk management" programs that enable sharing of such information and managing cases in which family members are at high risk of harm or of being killed. It is a terrific initiative and we need such programs across the state to track repeat and serial offenders.

But urgent investment is also required for specialist services trying to cope with family violence in Victoria. With a 21.6 per cent increase in police attendance at family violence incidents, on the back of 24 per cent the year before, it is critical that traumatised women and children are adequately supported. It's also critical that we learn from family violence homicides through a well resourced Coroners Court death review process.

The murder of Luke Batty and the courage of his mother, Rosie, can't be overlooked - not by government, the authorities, agencies and the entire community. The Victorian Government supports improving the system response to family violence; it's time to turn that support into decisive action.

Rosie Batty made a plea that her son's death be used as a catalyst for change. It is up to every one of us to honour that."

Fiona McCormack is CEO of Domestic Violence Victoria

To view the original article, click here

To return to the WRISC homepage, click here