Showing posts with label violence against women and children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label violence against women and children. Show all posts

Tuesday 26 July 2022

Counting Dead Women: the ugly brutal statistic continues in July 2022

 

Counting Dead Women
IMAGE: Destroy The Joint


 


Violence against women and girls in Australia follows a distressingly predictable path in 2022.

By 20 July this year the number of women reported in the media as dying as the result of violent attack by another person stood at 25 dead.

That is roughly one woman being killed every 8 days.

This figure relies on media reports of such deaths, which often can mean a significant under reporting of the real number of women and girls who die at the hands of partners, former partners, family members, acquaintances or strangers over a given period.

Before going to a federal election this year the former Morrison Government drafted the fifth National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032.


It's hard to imagine this particular draft plan when implemented making much difference to the violent related gender-based death toll, when the preceding four (beginning in 2010-2013) have failed to bring this century's femicide count down below that 'one-a-week' sticking point in Australia.

BACKGROUND


Violence against women and children in Australia is mostly perpetrated by men. Around four in five, family and domestic violence offenders are male. Men’s violence against women, including intimate, partner violence, is more prevalent, more often used repeatedly and more likely to lead to serious injury, disability or death. More than one in three Australians have experienced violence by a male perpetrator since the age of 15, compared to one in ten by a female perpetrator. While men can also be victim-survivors of family, sexual and domestic violence, men are more likely to experience violence from a stranger…..


Family, domestic and sexual violence also causes a huge economic impact with KPMG estimating this scourge costs Australia around $26 billion each year, 40 with victims and survivors bearing approximately 50 per cent of that cost.


Importantly, while sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence can occur in the context of domestic and family violence, it can also be perpetrated by other people known or unknown to the victim-survivor. In order to be effective, it is critical that our efforts to prevent, address, and respond to sexual violence recognise both the intersections and clear points of difference between domestic and family violence and sexual violence…..


Family, domestic and sexual violence also causes a huge economic impact with KPMG estimating this scourge costs Australia around $26 billion each year, with victims and survivors bearing approximately 50 per cent of that cost.

[Australian Government, (January 2022), “Draft National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032, pp. 11-12, 15]


Tuesday 28 September 2021

Counting dead, battered & violated women and girls in 2020 to September 2021

 



Counting Dead Women Australia 2021. We count every known death due to violence against women in Australia: 32 by September 26.”  [This count relies on publicly available information published by media outlets.]


In June 2021 the Australian Bureau of Statistics released Australian crime statistics for 2020


A total of 396 homicides and related offences occurred between between 1 January and 31 December 2020. 


  • 131 of those or an est. 33 per cent of all victims were females.


  • Most of these homicides & attempted homicides occurred in a residential setting, including the family home.


  • A total of 99 of those 396 homicides and related offences occurred in New South Wales.


  • 25 of those 99 or an est. 25.25 per cent of all NSW victims were females.


  • Most of the women and girls were either related to the perpetrator or otherwise knew them.


The number of police recorded victims of family and domestic violence related sexual assault increased by 13 per cent in 2020, according to an Australian Bureau of Statistics media release.


Close to two in five victims of sexual assault recorded by police throughout 2020 were FDV-related and, almost three quarters of FDV-related sexual assault victim-survivors were aged under 19 years at the time the incident occurred (71 per cent) and the majority were female (86 per cent). 


In NSW 81 per cent or 9,120 victims of sexual assault in 2020 were female and, around two in five (38 per cent) sexual assault incidents were FDV-related (4,288 victims).


NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR), June 2021 Update:





Additionally, in NSW in 2020 an est. 30,506 females were the victims of assault and, a higher proportion of females (54% or 16,430 victims) were assaulted by a family member compared with males (24% or 8,263 victims).

 

Wednesday 22 September 2021

Labor State Member for Lismore calling for zero state & community tolerance: In the 24 months to June 2021, only one of the 17 major crime categories was trending upwards in New South Wales and it was sexual assault. Domestic violence incidents also trended upwards in NE NSW & Central West


 

Domestic Violence statistics demand more action: Saffin


ZERO tolerance and more well-targeted action by New South Wales and Federal governments are needed to prevent the growing scourge of coercive control and domestic violence, according to Lismore MP Janelle Saffin.


Ms Saffin said she kept a close eye on Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research’s (BOCSAR) quarterly updates, the latest of which (June 2021) shows major crimes against women had continued to trend upwards before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.


The June 2021 update – see, www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au -- revealed that in the 24 months to June 2021, only one of the 17 major crime categories was trending upwards in New South Wales and it was sexual assault.


In BOCSAR’s media release, they highlighted increased reporting of incidents of sexual assault. This crime went up by 1367 incidents or 21 per cent in New South Wales over the year to June 2021.


In the Richmond-Tweed statistical area, incidents of domestic violence are up 33 per cent on a two-year trend and up 5.8 per cent on a five-year trend.


Also in Richmond-Tweed, incidents of intimidation, stalking and harassment are up 30.2 per cent on a two-year trend and up 8.6 per cent on a five-year trend.


Ms Saffin said she understood that increased reporting also applied to these two crimes.


I commend our local police for their zero tolerance of domestic violence and strong proactive approach to compliance checks,” Ms Saffin said.


I’ve written to NSW Attorney-General and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence Mark Speakman, asking him to organise a BOCSAR briefing for me and other MPs here if they wish to join, so we can consider further action that could be taken in terms of community programs.


We cannot ignore these statistical trends because they represent such a high human cost; if we can better interpret this raw data it will then inform that discussion.”


Ms Saffin said progress was being made with a NSW Parliamentary Joint Select Committee in June this year recommending that coercive control should be a criminal offence in New South Wales, in an effort to prevent domestic abuse-related homicide.


See, www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/listofcommittees/Pages/committee-details.aspx?pk=271


Ms Saffin also noted that the 2021-22 Federal Budget had included a $3.4-billion package of measures to improve outcomes for women’s safety, economic security, and health and wellbeing.


The outcomes of the National Summit on Women’s Safety – Ending Violence Against Women & Children – held online on September 6-7, would help guide the $1.1-billion women’s safety component over three years.


See http://regonsite.eventsair.com/national-summit-on-womens-safety/


Ms Saffin’s Electorate Office in Lismore is now an official stockist for escabags, free escape bags filled with the necessities that a victim of domestic violence and their children may need when fleeing an abusive or dangerous situation.


There are two types of escape bags available -- one for a parent and child, and one for a single adult. 


If people need one of these, get in touch with the office on 0266 213 624 or email lismore@parliament.nsw.gov.au


For more info, go to www.escabags.org


Monday, 20 September 2021.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Coffs Harbour- Grafton Statistical area 

Recorded criminal incidents from June 2020 to June 2021

Domestic Violence Incidents - 867 (previous 12 months 705)

Sexual Assaults - 213 (previous 12 months 166)


Richmond-Tweed Statistical area 

Recorded criminal incidents from June 2020 to June 2021

Domestic Violence Incidents - 1,116  (previous 12 months 838)

Sexual Assaults - 333  (previous 12 months 257)


As at June 2021 three of the local government areas in NE NSW with the highest number of domestic violence incidents for the last 12 months were Tweed Shire at 363, Lismore City at 274, and the Clarence Valley at 231, with Kyogle having the lowest at 32 - numbers for the remaining three local government areas fell in between. [See: https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Publications/RCS-Quarterly/NSW_Recorded_Crime_June_2021.pdf]


Friday 18 June 2021

Thus far in 2021 Australia appears to be averaging one woman dying a violent death at the hand of another person every 8.73 days

 

As of 15 June Destroy The Joint's Counting Dead Women project has recorded 19 women violently killed in 2021.














This project relies on media reports for its data and at the moment these 2021 reports show that violent deaths are averaging one every 8.73 days.


On 9 July 2020 the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia covering the calendar year 2019, with data based on police records. 
This is the latest release available to date. ABS data for 2020 should be released on or about 24 June 2021.


In 2019 there were 416 homicides, manslaughters and attempted murders recorded in Australia. Up 39 victims on 2018 figures.


An est. 125 of these victims were female and the majority of the violent deaths and near deaths appear to have been the result of family and domestic violence.


In that same calendar year Counting Dead Women recorded 61 women who died violently at the hands of another person..

Friday 9 April 2021

Is Scott Morrison's response to the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces genuine? Or is it just busy work to hold the line until after the next federal election?


 The Australian Government has agreed to (in full, in-principle, or in-part) or noted all 55 recommendations in the Report.” [Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, media release, 8 April 2021]


are either agreed wholly in part or in principle, or noted where they are directed to governments or organisations other than the Australian government” [Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, quoted in Sky News online, 8 April 2021]



So after ignoring the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces Final Report for over 12 months, what do Morrison’s weasel words in the quotes above indicate?



Scott Morrison & Co say they are proceeding to:


* order a survey every four years to provide data on sexual harassment;


* provide educational resources for young people of working age on workplace rights and sexual harassment;


* educate and train staff at the Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work Commission, Safe Work Australia, WHS regulators and workers’ compensation bodies concerning sexual harassment;


* lead a new collaboration by government, unions, employers and employer associations called Respect@Work aka the Workplace Sexual Harassment Council; and


* the Workplace Sexual Harassment Council is charged with:

a. providing high-level advice on development of guidelines and resources to ensure that all services providing information, advice and support in relation to sexual harassment can provide accurate information, make appropriate cross-referrals, and collect consistent data

b. after three years, considering the need for a centralised, accessible service to provide information and advice in relation to workplace sexual harassment;


* develop a Respect@Work website to provide the general public, employers and workers with free information; and


* Advise all state governments that they should ensure that relevant bodies responsible for developing training, programs and resources for judges, magistrates and tribunal members make available education on sexual harassment. 


Somehow in this 7-item list I don't see any immediate, hands-on, practical actions by the Morrison Government that will see the rates of sexual harassment, sexual assault, physical assault and/or murder by a partner or former partner, of women and girls in any state or territory decrease in the next few years.


I sincerely hope I am wrong.

 

Saturday 3 April 2021

Quotes of the Week

 

When Scott Morrison says he’s listening, it’s usually to himself.” [Dennis Aitkins writing in The New Daily, 27 March 2021]


This prime minister speaks almost exclusively to one cohort of voters: men at risk of voting Labor.” [Political editor and journalist Katharine Murphy, writing in The Guardian, 27 March 2021]



Saturday 27 March 2021

Iluka NSW Population 1,746: in March 2021 a small village with a big heart reminded the Morrison Government that women have a right to R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

 

Clarence Valley Independent, 24 March 2021:



Around 60 women and eight men joined together in Iluka on Monday of last week in the Clarence Valley march4justice protest march, organised by Berri Brown (Iluka) and Robin Thomas (Woombah) to say, “Enough is Enough”.


Berri Brown, shared her reason for protesting, saying that, “Domestic violence is about emotional, financial and verbal abuse. I want things to change so that my little girl will be able to go about her day in the knowledge that whatever she decides to do in her future she will never have to be silenced or not be believed if this was to happen to her”.


Guest speaker Prue Leggoe OAM of Maclean said, “Of the 60 women present only one woman put up her hand to say she had never experienced sexual harassment or abuse. One of the men attending said he was there to stand for his two daughters who had experienced sexual abuse. This is a devastating statistic”.


Prue added that is seemed that nothing had changed since she had experienced sexual harassment when a Member of the Victorian Parliament 40 years ago. “It seems to have gotten worse in Parliaments, where power is used to manipulate and frighten an abused person, and workplaces continue to be unsafe for many women and men.” She said…...



Friday 19 March 2021

A perspective on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's inability to comprehend that all women have a right to equality and respect

 

ABC News, 16 March 2021:


The early signs of an earthquake can often be easy to miss.


Above the ground, the initial tremors can seem innocuous. But deep below, the tectonic shifting of plates can set in motion a series of events that rip apart the earth and bring down all that stands above it.


Prime Minister Scott Morrison could be forgiven for missing the early signs of the quake that would destabilise his government and upend the nation's political landscape.


When those early tremors started, Morrison was riding high. The nation was bouncing back from an economic recession and the man who'd won an unlikely victory years earlier appeared on track for re-election.


His focus was solely on a successful vaccine rollout, which he hoped would bolster the public's confidence in his government.


Weeks later, he'd find himself inside the House of Representatives, all but praising the nation for not shooting the protesters that had gathered outside.


"This is a vibrant liberal democracy," he offered.


"Not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets, but not here in this country."


Scott Morrison is a man under pressure.


He has two Cabinet ministers, representing a quarter of the government's national security committee, on medical leave.


His government is facing allegations of a toxic culture towards women, particularly young female staffers.


Morrison played an unlikely role in the catalyst that would shake the foundations of the nation's Parliament.


He beamed as he stood alongside Grace Tame as she held her Australian of the Year trophy — an all-but-typical sight for a Prime Minister each January.


It was this sight that gave former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins the confidence to come forward only weeks later, and make public an allegation that she had been raped in a ministerial office, mere metres from the Prime Minister's office within Parliament House.


As she stepped forward into the light, so too came other women across the nation, each unearthing a growing list of allegations that ranged from bullying to sexual assault.


It derailed the government's planned focus on vaccines and forced the Coalition onto the back foot. The days of solely focussing on the pandemic are ending and with that comes greater scrutiny of the government on multiple fronts.


The Prime Minister knows all too well the power of marketing and imagery.


He projects the image of a daggy dad, the Sharks-loving, cap-wearing suburban everyman who builds chicken coops for his daughters.


So you only had to see the shirt he was wearing — the national netball team's — when he got his first COVID-19 vaccine to realise how aware he was about the reputational damage being inflicted on his government because of its culture towards women.


That culture has been a scourge on Parliament House long before Scott Morrison became Prime Minister.


But as the leader of the government it's his task to handle.


He's faced blowback for saying he had to talk to his wife to realise he had to respond to Brittany Higgins's allegations as if they were coming from his own daughters.


He's also faced criticism for referring to Ms Higgins as "Brittany", rather than Ms Higgins.


The same way he referred to Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Alison McMillan, a professor, as "chief nurse Alison", while Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly gets a "Professor Kelly".


Though each are small, the Prime Minister is facing questions about if they add up to something bigger.


"Not so much a tin ear as a wall of concrete," Labor leader Anthony Albanese offered in Parliament yesterday……


Former chief medical officer Brendan Murphy or the former NSW fire chief Shane Fitzsimmons were heavy favourites to be named Australian of the Year.


If either man had been awarded the honour, they'd have easily joined the ranks of the distinguished Australians to hold the position.


And if Murphy or Fitzimmons had been named Australian of the Year, it's unlikely the nation would still be talking about them more than a month later.


It's very possible it would've meant the Prime Minister would still be riding high, talking about the vaccine and an economy in recovery.


Grace Tame changed all that.


She has advanced a reckoning that has long hung over the nation's Parliament and its treatment of women.


It's grown into a story beyond Parliament House and forced the nation to confront how women in all walks of life are treated in Australia.


There is no quick fix that Morrison could announce to solve this problem.


To change a culture takes time.


But for the tens of thousands who rallied around the nation, they were looking for signs the nation's leaders were listening.


What they heard was a Prime Minister who said they should be thankful they weren't shot.


Thursday 18 March 2021

All those wonderful women who marched and those who support them in Australia 2021

 


On 15 March 2015 women and girls marched in villages, towns and citiesspread across Australia from coast to coast.

They marched demanding that gender-based violence against women and children stop.

A demand which insists that the federal government listen, act and lead a long overdue change in institutional attitudes which either turn a blind eye to or openly condone sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic violence, the double burden for many women of gender based discrimination coupled with racial discrimination and, a shameful murder rate which sees women murdered by their current partners or former partners at the rate of one woman every nine days [House of Representatives, Hansard, p.62].

Here are just some of the images from that 14 to 15 March which were 
tweeted by marchers as they happened.....





















Some of the supporters showing solidarity.....


BACKGROUND


Just one of the reports that Scott Morrison and his government have not acted on since he became prime minister in August 2018.

Australian Human Rights Commission, Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report (2020), 5 March 2020:

1 Introduction
1.1 Executive Summary

(a) The National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces

Workplace sexual harassment is prevalent and pervasive: it occurs in every industry, in every location and at every level, in Australian workplaces. Australians, across the country, are suffering the financial, social, emotional, physical and psychological harm associated with sexual harassment. This is particularly so for women.

This behaviour also represents a very real financial impost to the economy through lost productivity, staff turnover and other associated impacts.

In June 2018, against the backdrop of the momentum of the #MeToo movement and recognition of the prevalence of, and immense harm caused by sexual harassment in Australian, and global, workplaces, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, and the then Minister for Women, the Hon Kelly O’Dwyer, announced the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces (Inquiry).

As Australia’s national human rights institution, the Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) was tasked with undertaking this Inquiry. The Commission has an established record of undertaking initiatives aimed at addressing sexual harassment and promoting gender equality.

In the Terms of Reference, the Commission’s task was to review and report on workplace sexual harassment and make recommendations in relation to:

    • its prevalence, nature and reporting in Australian workplaces
    • the role of technology
    • its drivers, including risk factors for particular population groups or in  different workplace settings
    • the current legal framework
    • existing measures to address it and examples of good practice
    • its impacts on individuals and businesses, including its economic impact.

This report outlines the Commission’s findings and recommendations. The full list of recommendations is set out at the end of this Executive Summary.

The purpose of this Inquiry is to improve how Australian workplaces prevent and respond to sexual harassment, including through an examination of the systemic issues set out in its Terms of Reference.

The Commission established a Reference Group to provide advice and guidance for the Inquiry. It included members from across government, business groups, unions, academia and the legal and community sector (see Section 1.4(b) for a list of members). The Commission acknowledges and thanks Reference Group members for their valuable assistance with engaging stakeholders and providing frank and robust advice and guidance on the Inquiry.

The Commission received 460 submissions from government agencies, business groups, community bodies and, above all, victims. From September 2018 to February 2019, the Commission conducted 60 consultations as part of the Inquiry, with more than 600 individuals participating in all capital cities and some regional locations across Australia. It also held three roundtables and numerous meetings with key stakeholders.

This report is a reflection of the contributions of many individuals and organisations and the Commission is grateful to those who took the time to attend a consultation, write a submission or assist the Inquiry.

There is an urgency and demand for change across all corners of society.

Australia is also being closely watched internationally. This is Australia’s moment to be a global leader on this important and topical issue.



Tuesday 9 March 2021

On Wednesday 3 March 2021, Australian of the Year, 26 year-old Grace Tame gave a televised National Press Club of Australia Address

 


Grace Tame
Australian of the Year 2021
Image: australianoftheyear.org.au

On Wednesday 3 March 2021, Australian of the Year, 26 year-old Grace Tame gave a televised National Press Club of Australia Address.


This is the news.com.au published transcript of that address. It does not include the question and answer period at the end of the address:


In April of 2010, I was battling severe anorexia. Truth be told, I still am.


This illness had nearly taken my life the year prior, and seen me hospitalised twice. Bone thin and downed in fine down hairs from malnourishment, I was picked on for the way I looked. My mum was eight months pregnant at 45. I was a 15-year-old student at a private girls’ school in Hobart.


I arrived later to discover the rest of my Year 10 classmates were attending a driving lesson off campus I had completely forgotten about. Lapses like this weren’t uncommon – I was barely there. One of the senior teachers saw me walking around aimlessly in the courtyard. He was very well respected, the head of maths and science at the school for nearly 20 years. He taught me in Year 9. I thought he was funny. He told me he had a free period and asked me to chat with him in his office. He asked me about my illness, I talked, he listened. He promised to help me, to guide me in my recovery.


As a teenager with no frame of reference, and thinking nothing odd of this, I told my mother about the conversation. My parents had a meeting with the school principal, requesting the teacher stay away from me. In (a) meeting I then had, I think to apologise to him for putting him in this position in front of the principal. I was told I had done something wrong.


Thus, the first seeds of terror, confusion, and self-doubt were sewn in my mind. Indeed, it didn’t make sense. In secret, he was adamant I still come to see him. To talk. My parents were against me, he insisted. I was not to tell them because they wouldn’t understand. Pregnant women, he said, were full of hormones. That must be why my mother and I were arguing.


He gave me a key in his office, where it was always music playing, and the same music always, Simon and Garfunkel. Over a period of months he made me feel safe. I was sexually abused as a six-year-old by an older child who told me to undress in a closet before molesting me. He told me he would never hurt me. Until he did. By way of a masterful re-enactment I didn’t see coming. With a closet. And an instruction to undress.


Most of you know the story from there. That is, how I lost my virginity to a 58-year-old paedophile and spent the next six months being raped by him at school nearly every day on the floor of his office. When I reported him to police, he found 28 multimedia files of child pornography on his computer. As per the lasting impact of and manipulative grooming and a four months after the abuse, I effectively defended him in my statement. I was terrified he would find out I betrayed him and he would kill me. He was two years in jail for maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under the age of 17.


Repairing myself in the aftermath of all this was not a simple, linear undertaking. For every step forward, there were steps back and to the side, and some almost off the edge. I saw counsellor after counsellor. But I also abused drugs, drank, moved overseas, cut myself, threw myself into study, dyed my hair, made amazing friendships, got ugly tattoos, worked for my childhood hero, found myself in violent relationships, practised yoga, even became a yoga teacher.


I starved, I binged, and I starved again. One of the toughest challenges on my road to recovery was trying to speak about something we were taught is unspeakable. I felt completely disconnected from myself and everyone around me. Many people didn’t know how to respond. That said, the ones who listened, the ones who were eager to understand, even when they couldn’t, made all the difference.


Still, the doubt lingered. How could I have been so stupid, as to not see what this man was doing from the outset? Was it my fault? Should I have known it was a lie when he said he learned more from me than any of his other students? Maybe I should have been more alarmed when he asked me if I knew where my clitoris was. It was when the perpetrator was released after serving 19 months for abusing me, correction, maintaining a sexual relationship with me as a 15-year-old, and then spoke freely to the media about how awesome it was, I realised we had this all around the wrong way.


Add the fact this man was awarded a federally funded PhD scholarship to the only university in my state. My mother was studying there. She soon dropped out because of his presence. In fact, he was put in student accommodation. Despite multiple reports to police by fellow students of his predatory behaviour, and once again convicted and jailed for his vulgar public comments during his PhD tenure, he was eventually awarded a doctorate.


After all this, it became quite obvious to me why child sex abuse remains ubiquitous in our society, while predators retain the power to get what they want, to objectify their targets through free speech, the innocent, survivors and bystanders alike, are burdened by a shame-induced silence.


I connected with groundbreaking fellow survivor and journalist, Nina Funnell. I needed to raise awareness and educate others about sexual abuse and the prolonged psychological manipulation that belies it. After months of recounting, retraumatising details, tearfully transposed by Nina, we discovered we were barred by section 194k of Tasmania’s evidence act, that made it illegal for survivors of child sexual abuse to be identified by the media, even after turning 18, even with their consent. Nina created the Let Her Speak campaign to reform this law. We were then joined by 16 other brave survivors who lent their stories to the cause. The law was officially changed in April last year, almost 10 years to the day from the beginning of my story.


It is so important for our nation, the whole world, in fact, to listen to survivors’ stories. “Whilst they’re disturbing to hear, the reality of what goes on behind closed doors is more so. And the more details we omit for fear of disturbance, the more we soften these crimes. The more we shield perpetrators from the shame that is resultedly misdirected to their targets. “When we share, we heal, reconnect, and grow. Both as individuals and as a united strengthened collective. History, lived experience, the whole truth, unsanitised, and unedited, is our greatest learning resource. It is what informs social and structural change. The upshot of allowing predators a voice but not survivors encourages the criminal behaviour.


Through working with Nina, finally winning the right to speak, and talking with fellow campaign survivors and countless other women and men who have since come forward, it has become clear that there is the potential to do so much more to support survivors of child sexual abuse to thrive in life, beyond their trauma. And more so, to end child sexual abuse. It is my mission to do so. And it begins right now. As a fortunate nation, we have a particular obligation to protect our most vulnerable. Our innocent children, and especially those further disadvantaged through circumstance, being part of a minority group, or geographical location. And there are three key areas that we can focus on to achieve this.


Number one, how we invite, listen, and accept the conversation, and lived experience of child sexual abuse survivors. You have heard me say it before, it all starts with conversation. Number two, what we do to expand our understanding of this heinous crime, in particular, the grooming process, through both formal and informal education. Number three, how we provide a consistent national framework that supports survivors and their loved ones, not just in their recovery, but also to disempower and deter predators from action.


So, what is it that we must do? First and foremost, let’s keep talking about it. It’s that simple. Let’s start by opening up. It is up it us as a community, as a country, to create a space, a national movement where survivors feel supported and free to share their truths. Let’s drive a paradigm shift of shame away from those who have been abused and onto abusive behaviour. Let’s share the platform to remind all survivors that their individual voice matters amongst the collective. Every story is imbued with unique catalytic educative potential that can only be told by the subject. Let us genuinely listen, actively, without judgment, and without advice to demonstrate empathy and reinsure it never was our fault. Further to this point, while I must express my unflinching gratitude for this new-found platform, I would like to take this particular opportunity to directly address the media with a constructive reminder – the need for which has become starkly apparent to me this past month.


Hosts, reporters, journalists, I say to you – listening to survivors is one thing – repeatedly expecting people to relive their trauma on your terms, without our consent, without prior warning, is another. It’s sensation. It’s commodification of our pain. It’s exploitation. It’s the same abuse. Of all the many forms of trauma, rape has the highest rate of PTSD. Healing from trauma does not mean it’s forgotten, nor the symptoms never felt again. Trauma lives on in ourselves. Our unconscious bodies are steps ahead of our conscious minds. When we’re triggered, we’re at the mercy of our emotional brain. In this state, it’s impossible to discern between past and present. Such is retraumatisation.


I cried more than once while writing this. Just because I’m been recognised for my story doesn’t mean it’s fair game anywhere, any time. It doesn’t get any easier to tell. I may be strong, but I’m human, just like everyone else. By definition, truths cannot be forced. So grant us the respect and patience to share them on our own terms, rather than barking instructions like take us back to your darkest moment, and ‘tell us about being raped’. The cycle of abuse cannot be broken simply by replaying case histories, we cannot afford to back track. Else, we’ll go around in circles, trapped in a painful narrative, and we’ll all get tired, both as speakers and listeners. We’ll want to switch off and give up. And retreat once more into silence.


On average, it takes 23.9 years for survivors of child sexual abuse to be able to speak about their experiences. Such is the success of predators at instilling fear and self-doubt in the minds of their targets. More so than they are masters of destroying our trust in others, perpetrators are masters of destroying our trust in our own judgment. In ourselves. Such is the power of shame. A power, though, that is no match for love. When I disclosed my abuse to another of my teachers, Dr William Simon, his absolute belief in me was the only assurance I needed to tell the police. It helped me recover a little of my lost faith in humanity. There certainly isn’t a single rigid solution. Solutions will naturally come in due course by allowing and enabling voices to be heard.


Certainly, talking about child sexual abuse won’t eradicate it, but we can’t fix a problem we don’t discuss, so it begins with conversation. Which brings me to my second point: from there, we need to expand the conversation to create more awareness and education. Particularly around the process of grooming.


Grooming – it’s a concept that makes us wince and shudder and as such, we rarely hear about it. To the benefit of perpetrators. While it haunts us, and we avoid properly breaking it down, the complexity and secrecy of this criminal behaviour is what predators thrive on. In turn, we enable them to charm and manipulate not just their targets, but all of us at once, family, friends, colleagues and community members, and this must stop. Our discomfort, our fear, and resulting ignorance needs to stop giving perpetrators the power and confidence that allows them to operate.


As a start, we should all be aware of what has been identified as the six phases of grooming, that certainly ring true in my experience. Number one, targeting. That is, identifying a vulnerable individual. In my case, I was an innocent child, but I was anorexic, with significant change happening at home. Number two, gaining trust. That is, establishing a friendship and falsely lulling the target into a sense of security, by empathising and assuring safety. For me, that is what I thought was listening to my challenges. Empathising with my situation, and providing me a safe space to retreat to when I needed it. Number three, filling a need. That is, playing the person that fills the gap in a target’s mental and emotional support. In my case, although I was surrounded by an incredibly attentive family and team of medical professionals, most of their support came in the form of tough love. The teacher thus assumed the role of sympathiser, telling me what I wanted to hear. Number four, isolating, driving wedges between the target and their genuine supporters. This involves pushing certain people away, but exploiting others. I remember studying the film Iron Jawed Angels in history. The main character is force fed, much like I had been. Aware of my distress upon seeing this, my history teacher quietly led me out of the classroom. I said nothing. But she took me straight to his office. Where she left me with him. Panicked, in tears. It wasn’t until many years later I questioned why she and other staff would take me to him when I was upset. Staff he privately mocked and referred to as ‘the menopausal virgins club’. He must have told them. Number five, sexualising. That is, gradually introducing sexual content as to normalise it. In my case, in conjunction with subtly explicit conversation, I was carefully exposed to material that glorified relationships between characters with significant age differences. There was one film in particular he made me watch, called The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the last line of which, ‘Give me a girl at an impressible age, and she is mine for life’.


And remember how I said Simon and Garfunkel was always playing? Their music was the soundtrack to The Graduate. He made me watch that too. It was, both literally and figuratively, The Sound of Silence. You know the lyrics. The vision that was planted in my brain, still remains, within The Sound of Silence. Number six, maintaining control. That is, striking a perfect balance between causing pain and providing relief from that pain. To condition the target to feel guilt at the thought of exposing a person that also appears to care for them. Abusers scare you into silent submission. At over six foot, he towered above me. He once told me a story about a friend of his who sought revenge on a woman by digging her eyes out with a spoon. He told me he killed people as a soldier. He’d also sit outside on my street at night in his car, to watch me undress through the window. I was already embarrassed by my shape as a young teenager in eating disorder recovery. I remember standing naked behind his desk after he had just raped me, and asking him if he thought I was fat. He looked me up and down and said, ‘You could do with some more exercise’. Like I was a dog. But he also told me I was beautiful. See, how it is all stiflingly, painfully complex?


But as we talk more about child sexual abuse, our lived experiences and what we know, our understanding of this premeditated evil will continue to develop. We need to warn our children, age appropriately, of the signs and characteristic behaviours, while educating how to report it, should it happen to them, or to those around them. This is a serious enough topic, unfortunately too common in occurrence for us to hope that kids know this. So I challenge our education system to look for ways to more formally educate our children. Because we know that education is our primary means of prevention.


And finally, to my third point, we need structural change. A national system that supports and protects survivors and deals with crimes in proportion to their severity. Let’s start by considering the implications of linguistics related to offences. Through Let Her Speak campaign efforts, we saw the wording of my abuser’s charge officially changed from maintaining a sexual relationship to a person under 17, to the persistent sexual abuse of a child. Think about the difference in the crime according to the language of both of these. Think about the message it sends to the community. Think about the message it sends survivors. Where empathy is placed, where blame is placed, and how punishment is then given. We need to protect our children not just from the physical, mental, and emotional pain of these hideous crimes, but from the long lasting sometimes lifelong trauma that accompanies it. Whilst national structural change is no small feat, nor is educating our children on the dangers and the complexities of grooming, it is work that needs to be done and we need to start somewhere.


Let’s start by reviewing our linguistics and agreeing between ourselves. We have eight different state and territory jurisdictions and eight different definitions of consent. We need to agree on something as absolute as what consent is. We need a uniform, state and federal, national standard definition of consent. Only then can we effectively teach this fundamentally important principle consistently around Australia.


Since I was announced as Australian of the Year just over a month ago, hundreds of fellow child sexual abuse survivors have reached out to me to tell their stories. To cry with me. Stories they thought they would take with them to the grave, out of shame for being subjected to something that was not their fault. Stories of a kind of suffering they had previously never been able to explain. Stories of grooming. I am one of the luckiest ones. Who survived, who was believed, who was surrounded by love.


And what this shows me is that despite this problem still existing, and despite a personal history of trauma that is still ongoing, it is possible to heal, to thrive, and live a wonderful life. It is my mission and my duty as a survivor and as a survivor with a voice to continue working towards eradicating child sexual abuse. I won’t stop until it does.


And so, I leave you with these three messages – number one, to our government – our decision-makers, and our policymakers – we need reform on a national scale. Both in policy and education. To address these heinous crimes so they are no longer enabled to be perpetrated. Number two, to my nation, the wonderful people of Australia – we need to be open, to embrace the conversation, new information, and take guidance from our experiences so we can inform change. So we can heal and prevent this happening to future generations.


Number three, and finally, to my fellow survivors – it is our time. We need to take this opportunity. We need to be bold and courageous. Recognise that we have a platform on which I stand with you in solidarity and support. Share your truth. It is your power. One voice, your voice, and our collective voices can make a difference. We are on the precipice of a revolution whose call to action needs to be heard loud and clear. That’s right. You got it. Let’s keep making noise, Australia.”